


Adapting

by Merrov



Category: Stargate Atlantis
Genre: Angst, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Whump
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-09-16
Updated: 2010-09-16
Packaged: 2017-10-11 21:23:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 24,493
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/117277
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Merrov/pseuds/Merrov
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After a particularly brutal mission, Rodney looses his sight, among other crazy and terrible things. Just another episode in the Pegasus Galaxy!</p>
            </blockquote>





	Adapting

**Author's Note:**

> Started off as a drabble answer to a worst things challenge, and then ballooned into 30 freakin mostly drabble length chapters! I had a blast writing it, and I'm sure it has some problems, but this has not been to a beta. The first few sections are written without quotation marks because Rodney is on so many drugs. It comes off a little strange, but everything is pretty strange to Rodney at this point.

Part 1  
Rodney woke up, but he didn't open his eyes. He wouldn't see anything even if he did. He could hear the distant beep beep of John's heart monitor, could hear the coosh coosh of Ronon's ventilator. He could hear a soft chinking noise as Teyla shifted her position, trying to get comfortable with her broken leg in traction.

Oh yeah, this last mission had been a doozy.

Though he was the least injured of the team, Rodney didn't really remember the mission very well. He'd hit his head, hard, and everything was very muzzy. Everyone was being very careful around him. Radek visited three times a day, keeping him updated on the goings on of the labs.

In fact, it must have been that time again, because Rodney could hear the whispered accents of Radek and Carson. They must have been on the other side of the room. He couldn't make out what they were saying, but he happily let his mind drift and ride on the accents and the drugs Carson was pumping through his system.

Distantly, he knew those drugs were anti-anxiety meds, tranquilizers… things to keep him from freaking out and falling out of bed if claustrophobia were to strike him. Again.

He could hear the light foot steps as Radek approached his bed. Could hear him talking, talking, talking about the current simulations and experiments, talking about a malfunctioning transporter and a Puddle Jumper that wouldn't dial the gate. All the while, Rodney just let himself drift on Radek's accent. He didn't know what kind of expression he had on his face, but his voice suddenly sounded sad. Bidding a sudden goodbye that took a moment for Rodney to understand, Radek hurried away.

Beep, beep, beep…

Coosh…Coosh….Coosh….

Clink, rattle…

Rodney could hear his team all around him. Could hear Carson talking softly to Teyla. Could feel the warmth of some faceless nurse's hand as she checked his vitals. He fell back asleep.

Some time later, Rodney drifted towards awareness again. The sounds had changed. The rhythm was off. Something was missing. With a quick intake of breath, Rodney called for Carson, his voice cracking slightly from disuse. He couldn't hear Ronon. He called for Carson again, this time stronger and more urgent.

Finally he heard the doctor's hurried footsteps. He felt Carson's hand on his arm, the slight, reassuring squeeze. Ronon was fine, the Scottish accent was just as easy to drift on as Radek's was. Ronon was off the ventilator. Nothing to worry about. How was Rodney feeling?

Rodney pulled his shoulders up in a slight shrug. The darkness was getting to him. He wondered if he'd be able to get back to sleep without the assurance that Ronon was still alive. He could still hear John and Teyla, but the tones and rhythms were all off now.

Carson spoke again, he was going to give Rodney his next dose of drugs. Rodney wanted to protest, no he didn't want them, but it was too late. He could hear Carson drawing up medication into a syringe. He felt Carson inject the medication into Rodney's IV catheter. Felt his brain grow sluggish again. Again, he was happy to float on Carson's voice, on the reassuring beep of John's heart monitor. A new sound entered his awareness. It was very faint, and Rodney wondered if he was maybe imagining it. There it was again; the faint sound of Ronon's snores.

Drifting, Rodney contemplated his predicament. He was doing fairly well, with how aware of his surroundings he was. Knowing part of his new-found optimism was merely because Carson had just doped him up again didn't stop him from being pleased with himself. He was adaptable to new situations. And he was a genius, after all.

Rodney felt a giggle rise from his throat. As long as Carson kept giving him these great drugs, Rodney was sure he wouldn't care that he'd never see again.

Part 2

John had been allowed out of bed to wheel around the infirmary. Rodney could hear the sticky sound as the wheelchair rolled across the floor, first away from him, towards Ronon's bed. Then across from him, to Teyla. Finally, Rodney heard him approach. Felt the change in the air currents. Smelled John's aftershave. Slowly, Rodney turned his head to face John's direction.

Hey, buddy. John asked how he was feeling. Rodney was drifting, still high on Carson's good drugs. They'd tried to lower his dose yesterday. Rodney hadn't liked it. Emphatically. He couldn't remember it very well now, but he figured that was why he was restrained now. He could remember wetness on his cheeks. Had he be been crying? He remembered screaming. He'd been terrified. But now he couldn't really remember why.

He must have said something, because John was talking to him again. Everything was going to be fine. Rodney grinned at that. Everything was grand, actually. He heard John cough, a sharp intake of breath. I gotta go, buddy. What was that tone in John's voice? He sounded… emotional. Rodney lifted a finger in a tiny wave. Why did John sound like that?

Rodney was fairly comfortable in the darkness now. Every once in a while, usually right after Carson gave him his next dose of medication, he'd ask why they were keeping the lights so low. Certainly no one could get any work done this way? Carson would remind him that the lights weren't low, Rodney just couldn't see. And Rodney would smile. Oh yeah. He'd remember.

Rodney woke up some time later. The sounds had changed. There was a feeling of urgency in the air. Rushing footsteps passed, along with that gurney that had the squeaky wheel. He could hear Carson, his voice distant and clipped, ordering an OR prepped, and someone get some blood. Rodney giggled. Someone get some blood? Oh. Transfusion. Who was hurt?

He listened for his team. They were all still there. Teyla was talking to Ronon, even though the caveman couldn't speak yet. John was asleep in his bed, his soft breathing hard to hear, since he didn't snore. But it was even and deep. His chest wound was healing. John had been impaled. Rodney remembered now. He could suddenly remember the shocked gurgle that bubbled up and out of John's mouth as the spear was shoved between his ribs. Rodney could remember seeing the tip burst out of John's back.

Rodney remembered screaming then, too. He'd been unable to help his friend. Unable, even, to help himself, when they'd turned to him. He remembered the wickedly sharp, black tipped—poison, maybe?-- sticks that had been pushed into his face. He remembered their captors chanting, celebrating, as they passed a goblet full of blood—was it John's?—to each other. Rodney's memories were all out of order. He could feel his heart beating faster. He heard Teyla's scream when they'd turned to her. Had heard nothing but a grunt and then a deathly silence from Ronon.

Rodney's voice cracked. He couldn't see! Oh my god, I cant see! He couldn't hear John's breathing, or Teyla or Ronon. Couldn't feel the air currents. Where was he? He couldn't move his hands. Suddenly, he was certain they were still on the planet. He was still tied down, unable to do anything except whimper.

Hands suddenly gripped his arm, and Rodney screamed. Who was there? John! Oh god, I think he's dead! And why can't I see!

Someone was talking to him… he couldn't understand the words. He felt a moment of cool sensation enter his veins… and his heart beat slowed. Rodney tried to focus on the voice, on the words, but.. Oh, they weren't English. He recognized the voice now. Radek was there. He's voice was very close to Rodney's ear, and Radek was whispering soothing words in Czech. Rodney could smell the metallic scent of Ancient machines. As he stilled and sighed, he felt Radek lean away from him.

His accented voice was asking a question. What happened? Rodney didn't know, but the question wasn't directed at him. A female voice-- one of the nurses?-- replied. Dr. Beckett is still in surgery with Major Lorne. Dr. McKay was due for his medications about half an hour ago.

John's voice, and the hand on Rodney's arm squeezed. Claustrophobia? Radek was answering him, talking, but Rodney had lost interest in their conversation. He was tired. As Radek and John sat with him, he fell back asleep.

Part 3

There were voices around him when Rodney woke up. He stayed quiet, just listening. Aye, he's banged up, poor lad, but he'll heal. Carson. I've just come by to check on Rodney. Radek. That's good, Ronon, one more time, please. Rodney didn't recognize that voice. Must be a nurse. I'm healing well, but am concerned for Rodney. They had to sedate him again earlier. Teyla. Do you think it's time to bring Kate down here to speak with him? Elizabeth.

Rodney turned towards her voice. Hi, Elizabeth. A moment later, he felt a light touch on his arm. Hello, Rodney. Her voice was smiling, but it seemed sad. Rodney wasn't sure why everyone seemed sad when they spoke to him. Was it pity? Pity for the blind man?

The air shifted, and the scent of antiseptic, hair gel, and a faint undercurrent of tea hit his nose. Carson had joined them. I'm not sure if he's lucid enough yet. I've had to keep his medications up at a fairly high dose so he wont hurt himself.

Are you talking about me? I'm right here… Rodney's head was still muzzy, but only faintly so.

Aye, Rodney. We're here. Carson lifted Rodney's other hand, the one with the IV catheter in it. Dimly, Rodney realized he wasn't restrained any more. He was drifting back and fourth, trying to stay above the remnants of Carson's good drugs. He pulled his hand away from Carson. No more drugs. Carson let his hand go.

Rodney didn't want to see the head shrink. He wanted to know where John was. And who had been the cause of all the ruckus last night. Carson and Elizabeth moved away from him, but Radek came over and dropped into the creaky chair beside Rodney's bed.

Major Lorne's team had met hostilities. Radek told him. Lorne had been in surgery for over an hour last night as Carson put his shoulder back together and stitched his side back up.

Rodney stopped listening. He was getting annoyed by the blackness. He reached up to rub his eyes, but hands grabbed his and stopped him. Don't. Radek's pained voice ordered.

Why the hell not? What was wrong with his eyes that Radek didn't want him to rub them? Rodney jerked his hands away from the scientist, then cautiously touched his closed eyelids. Pain bloomed across his face and he heard himself hiss. Radek's hands again tried to take Rodney's but Rodney turned away. The pain had cleared his head of the last bit of fog. Something was terribly wrong with his eyes, and he wanted to know what it was.

Carefully probing, his fingers came across two scabs in the middle of his eyelids. Memories rushed into his mind. The sticks those natives had shoved in his face. They'd pierced his eyes!

Suddenly, there was shouting, and Rodney didn't know if it was him, or Radek. There was a rush of footsteps, and hands holding him down. They'd stabbed his eyes! They'd broken Teyla's leg in three places, impaled John, done something deadly to Ronon, and STABBED HIS EYES!

He remembered the cave, lit by flickering torches and the large fire in the centre of the floor. Remembered the natives, covered in body paint, dancing. Drinking red liquid from a goblet. Remembered his team tied to the walls. John was bent forwards, held by the spear, blood dripping into a basin. There was a painted man sitting below Rodney, mixing something on a flat rock. The man had looked up at Rodney, white eyes flickering in the fire light. Then they'd dipped sticks in the mixture on the rock below Rodney, and had…

He was flailing, trying to get away from the hands, the voices, the smells. Too close. Everything was pressing in on him, the darkness overwhelming-- He felt the world tilt. Hands grabbed at him, but he slipped through their fingers. The landing was hard and cold. Was he in the cave, or the infirmary? Rodney didn't know. All he knew was that he wanted to get away. He scrabbled away from the voices, felt the tug and a painful twinge as the IV catheter ripped out of the back of his hand. Felt the warm flow of blood as it welled out of his vein and slithered down the side of his hand.

Suddenly, someone grabbed him, wrapped him in strong arms. He struggled, heard a voice ordering whoever was holding him to keep him still. Rodney screamed again. Help me! And then there was the pinch of a needle, and the voices faded away.

Part 4

The next time Rodney woke, the first sound he heard was the contained splash of a water bottle. Someone was sitting beside his bed, drinking water. Who's that? The chair creaked as the person leaned towards Rodney. He smelled some flowery shampoo and the stale, metallic scent of lipstick and makeup. But he couldn't place the scents with a person.

Dr. McKay, glad to see you're awake. Oh. It was Kate Heightmeyer. The head shrink. Rodney didn't want to talk to her. He tried to wave her off, but his arms were in restraints again. Had he had another claustrophobic episode? He tried to remember. Darkness, memories, fire, dancing, laughter, screaming, blood… he remembered hitting the floor. He clenched his fists, unclenching them just as quickly at the sting on his left hand. He remembered jerking his IV out. Remembered strong arms holding him down, remembered being sedated. He hated that he reacted like that whenever the meds wore off.

Thinking about it, his head felt less muzzy. Everything was still dimmed, but... they must have changed his drugs.

How are you feeling? Kate wasn't going to leave him alone. Rodney focused past her, listening for the sounds of his team. How long had he been out this time? He could hear the flicker of a book page. John must be reading. Teyla was very quiet, but Rodney could hear her breathing. Not asleep. Meditating? Ronan was asleep, Rodney could hear him snoring softly. There was another sound now, a new breathing pattern. It was rough, as though the person was in pain. Rodney could hear the grinding noise of an IV pump coming from the same direction, but he didn't know who it was.

He must have turned his head in the direction of the new sounds, because Kate spoke again. It's Major Lorne. They moved him into recovery while you were asleep. Rodney wished Kate would go away. He wished it was Radek or John or Elizabeth sitting beside his bed. Kate would want to talk about his newfound blindness. Rodney didn't want to talk about that. Didn't want to hear pity in any one's voices.

He heard footsteps. The air currents changed, and Rodney caught the scents of Radek before he made it to Rodney's bed. He and Kate exchanged words. No, he hadn't said anything since he'd been awake. Well, no offence, doctor, but he probably does not want to talk to you. You know how Rodney is.

He heard Kate stand up. Felt her touch his arm and bid him goodbye, promising to come back later to see how he was doing. He listened to her leave, heard Radek sit down. He turned towards Radek. Why are you here? Don't you have a job to do?

Radek chuckled, and Rodney felt him pat Rodney's arm. He seemed relieved. You're feeling a little better today. You sound more like yourself.

Rodney wondered, again, how long he'd been sedated. Radek, bless Radek hand his ability to read Rodney's thoughts, answered the unspoken question. He'd been out for twelve hours. They'd changed his medications, Radek continued. Less tranquilizers. Changed him onto anti-depressants and mood regulators. Carson had told Kate to come by.

Traitor, Rodney whispered, only half joking.

Radek chuckled again. Let her in, my friend. You've been in and out of sedated sleep and having bad episodes for almost a week. Atlantis needs its genius back. Sooner or later, something is going to break down, and they'll need us. Radek was talking about himself and Rodney. The team that always saves the day in the eleventh hour.

Rodney sighed. Things would be different now. How was he supposed to do half the things he usually did? His eyes itched. As soon as he thought about that, he remembered the feeling of the scabs on his eyelids. A curl of hysteria snaked his stomach, but he suppressed it. Good drugs, he thought. Maybe things were about to change.

Part 5

Rodney shot into awareness. Oh, god, he was going to vomit! He made a strangled noise, jerking against the restraints that still held him to the bed. His stomach was curling, lifting, he swallowed convulsively. Notyetnotyetnotyet…

He heard John call his name, followed by a more urgent call to Carson. Rushing footsteps, barely registering as Rodney fought his stomach. Hands pulled at his restraints at the same time as his bed shifted, moving him into a sitting position. He could smell Carson, his antiseptic, his hair gel, tea, chocolate… between the smells and he bed's movement, he knew he couldn't hold on any longer. One hand was free. He reached out blindly, trying to shove Carson away. Leaning over the opposite side of the bed, he let go, hearing the splatter as he emptied his stomach onto the infirmary floor.

The sound changed. The splatter sounded closer, the air currents moved. Someone held a basin below his face, catching his final heaves. What seemed like ages later, he was down to dry heaves. His head pounded, his eyes throbbed. He was out of breath, and his mouth tasted horrible. Shaking, he leaned back against the bed, still in its upright position. His other hand was unstrapped, and he could already hear a mop bucket rolling across the floor and towards his bed.

Gross.

Carson was there, mopping sweat from Rodney's face. He asked him a quiet question, could he hold a cup of water? Rodney thought he could, remembered to nod, and a small cup was pressed into his hand. Still shaking, he raised it to his lips.

He swished the water around his mouth, making sure not to swallow any. A moment later, Carson helped him lean forward slightly. Spit. Caron told him, and Rodney complied, hearing the groady water hit the bottom of the basin that Carson must have been holding for him. Rodney repeated the sip, swish, spit a couple more times before he leaned back.

He could hear someone mopping the floor, could smell the acidic stink of vomit being replaced by bleach. He could hear the skritching of Carson making a note on Rodney's chart. Then Carson was beside him again. Here. He placed a small object in Rodney's hand. A pill? Carson wanted him to swallow something right now?!

Don't be daft, Rodney. It's a mint.

Oh, right. Rodney put it in his mouth, let the freshness chase away the vomitious aftertaste.

Carson was speaking again, apologising. Maybe the medication shift had been too sudden. Or it could be a side affect of the mood regulator, sometimes that can upset the stomach.

Personally, Rodney had his suspicions about the chicken-like substance he'd been given for dinner, and he told Carson so. Carson chuckled, placing a cool, damp cloth on Rodney's forehead, and Rodney felt himself relax. The pounding of his head and eyes was receding, thank god.

Rodney suddenly found himself wondering what he looked like. Probably pale faced, sweating… or maybe red faced and sweating, as he had just thrown up. He decided he'd ask Radek about it later. He felt the pressure of the cloth ease as Carson took his hand away, leaving the cloth on Rodney's forehead. He must have thought that Rodney had fallen back asleep.

The sticky wheel sound of John making his way over to join Carson brought Rodney out of his thoughts. How's he doing, doc? He ok? John was quietly asking.

Aye, Carson answered, just as quietly. Probably just a reaction to the medication. He's been doing well enough that I may try reducing his dose though. It's been two days since his last panic attack.

He looks so pale, John whispered. And when are those marks on his eyelids gonna go away? Carson shushed him, probably afraid that Rodney would overhear them. He had, of course.

Rodney shifted, trying to get comfortable, and John must have heard him, because Rodney could hear the sticky wheels approaching. What do you want, John?

You doing, ok, buddy? John asked.

Grand, considering I just vomited all over the infirmary floor. Rodney wanted to snark at him, but didn't feel like he had the energy. He just wanted this all to be over. He just wanted to get back into the labs, back to his life, dammit. He could feel tears in his eyes, and hated it. He wanted to scrub them away, but didn't want to touch those scabs.

He felt a hand take his. Hey, it's ok, Rodney. John's voice sounded a little thick. There was a moment of silence, and Rodney felt one of those blasted tears slide down his cheek. Wonderful. His humiliation was now complete. But John didn't say anything about it. He just held Rodney's hand in companionable silence, and let him silently cry.

Part 6

People were talking. Rodney didn't bother to move, didn't bother to let them know he was awake. They always stopped talking when they knew he was listening.

The latest scan still shows too much damage to his eyes. Carson.

What about bringing in specialists from Earth? Elizabeth.

Aye, it would be a good idea. I don't know if there's anything they'll be able to do, but they're the specialists, not me.

Too bad we don't have one of those Gould healing things. Has he opened his eyes for you yet, Radek? John.

No, though I am thankful for that. Wounds are almost healed now, it looks like nothing should be wrong. I am not sure I want to know what his eyes look like now. Radek's accented voice answered. Rodney felt a small flare of anger, but didn't move.

Has he talked to Kate yet? Elizabeth again.

No. She came by yesterday to see him, but he did not wish to speak to her. Radek.

I read your report on the mission, John, but we still don't know exactly what happened to Rodney. Carson.

Yeah, I was a little skewered by that point, sorry, Doc.

Well, we'll just have to wait. I wont ask Rodney to submit a report yet. Things are still too… fresh. Elizabeth.

What happened before you were taken prisoner? If you don't mind my asking. Oh, Lorne was awake now.

Standard recon. Funny natives were waiting for us when we came through the gate. They must have heard the puddle initialize. John answered. They never said a word to us, but seemed nice enough. They offered us fruit. John stopped talking, and Rodney could imagine him shrugging. They led us into the forest, probably towards a village or something. Rodney detected strange energy readings. As we passed the source we veered away from the natives to check it out. They never tried to stop us, just followed and watched. We came to this… I donno… tree, I guess. But it wasn't a tree. I touched it, and it changed. It was an obelisk, covered in Ancient writing. Before Rodney could read it though, the natives grabbed us and took us to the cave. There was a lot of yelling, cheering, whatever. They seemed to be celebrating.

Rodney had had a lot of time to think about this. The natives were celebrating. They'd just seen John turn a tree into a stone with a touch. These were not an advanced people. They'd probably thought they were gods. Or demons. Rodney couldn't help but shiver. Crazy people and their crazy superstitions and their awful, awful rituals. Rodney had told John time and time again not to touch things while they were on a mission. Things like this always ended up happening.

As the voices stopped talking, Rodney tried to figure out what he would do once he got out of the infirmary. He missed his own bed. Missed arguing with Radek. Missed working on puzzles and experiments in the labs. He wondered if he was ever going to be able to do those things again.

As Radek sat beside him, keeping him company while he tapped on a laptop and muttered quietly to himself in Czech, Rodney thought about everything they'd seen and learned while living in Atlantis. Surely there had to be a way…

Part 7

"Aye, Rodney's doing well. I dialled back his medications night before last, and so far, he's been responding quite well. We removed the IV last night, and he's been on oral meds. If he gets through lunch time today with out having a panic attack, I think he can be released to his quarters." Carson was speaking to someone when Rodney woke up.

"That's good, Carson. I'm very glad to hear that." Oh, it was Elizabeth.

"Hey, Elizabeth," Rodney called. He heard both her and Carson turn towards him.

"Rodney, you're awake. How are you feeling?" Elizabeth asked, and Rodney felt her take his hand. He squeezed her hand back.

"I'm feeling pretty good actually," Rodney replied. "Though I'm trying not to think about it too much," he added. At the current medication doses, Rodney felt almost like himself. Everything was in focus, he didn't feel like he was floating and drifting this way and that on the air currents and voice patterns around him. He felt grounded. Solid. He didn't know how much he'd missed that feeling.

Elizabeth sat down beside him, on the creaky chair. "Good. Carson said you may be released to quarters today, if you're up for it. I still want you to talk to Kate. And we've sent a message to Earth. We caught the Daedalus before it left, so they're going to send a specialist to come see you."

Rodney was glad to hear all this, though he didn't know what he thought about being released to his quarters. He'd be happy enough to have his bed back, but… it'd be so quiet. He realized he'd grown very used to hearing his team around him, to listening in on the infirmary conversations and movement. He was afraid that he'd feel too cut off in his quarters. But he didn't say anything to Elizabeth. He was trying to be strong. Everyone pitied him enough already, he didn't want to give them more reason to do so.

Rodney heard a faint, flat voice, distant, he couldn't quite make it out. But Elizabeth had heard it to. She shifted, then said, "I'm here," and paused. The flat voice said something else before Rodney figured out that he was hearing Elizabeth's radio. "I'll be right there, Chuck."

Rodney smiled, "back to work?"

Elizabeth squeezed his hand, "Yeah. I'll see you again soon, ok?" Rodney nodded and then Elizabeth was gone.

****

Rodney was eating lunch when he heard Carson approach, some one else was with him, but Rodney couldn't tell who it was. The smells of his lunch were mucking with his nose. "Well, Rodney, if you think you're up for it, I want to try releasing you."

Rodney swallowed his current mouthful of blue jello and nodded. They'd given him the chicken thing again today. Rodney had refused to eat it since his vomiting episode earlier that week.

"Radek's here to help you to your quarters, whenever you're ready." Carson continued.

Rodney turned his head toward them. "What about John? And Teyla and Ronon? When are they getting released?" He pushed his lunch tray away. He'd finished everything except the chicken thing, and he wasn't ready to face that again.

"John should be released to quarters and further bed rest in a couple days, as will Teyla. Ronon's throat is still very delicate, and we've had to keep him in a head brace so he wont move too much. He'll have to stay here a wee bit longer, I'm afraid."

"Doc," a croaking voice called. Ronon, Rodney thought. He's talking today. That gave Rodney more relief then he thought it would. Carson excused himself and went to check on the Setedan, and Radek came forward to stand next to Rodney's bed.

A sweet smelling nurse came and took Rodney's lunch tray, and Rodney turned his head back in Radek's direction. He could smell him, now that the lunch tray was gone. Soap and Ancient machinery. Radek had been crawling around fixing things today, Rodney thought.

"We found new lab last night," Radek told him. "It looks like a marine biology lab. Way out on west pier."

"Oh, well that's not terribly interesting. Did you tell the squishy sciences about it yet?" Rodney replied, scratching his hand where the IV catheter had been.

"Ano. They were happy to take it over this morning." The air shifted and then there was the telltale creak as Radek sat down.

The two were silent for a moment, before Radek spoke again, "Are you ready to get out of here?"

Rodney sighed. "Usually I'd say god yes, get me out of here…"

"But you're used to it here. Are aware of everything," Radek finished for him. Rodney nodded.

"Aw, get out of here Rodney," John called, probably from his bed. "You're gonna have to do it sometime."

Rodney grimaced. Yeah, yeah, he knew that. Thanks, John.

Radek stood up and patted his arm. "Come, I have something for you anyway."

Sighing, Rodney shifted, swinging his legs over the side of the bed. "Where are my clothes?"

"I brought you some fresh ones from your quarters. The ones you were wearing are total loss." He could hear Radek moving, heard the swish of the privacy curtains moving. The sounds of the rest of the infirmary dimmed slightly. "Here. Take off your shirt."

Rodney hesitated for a moment, then complied, pulling the scrub top off. The neck of the shirt rubbed his face as it came off, but his eyes weren't bothering him anymore. Radek took the shirt from him. "Hold out both hands. I'm going to give you this front side forward."

"I can figure this out for myself, Radek." Rodney snapped, but he did as he was told. He felt the familiar fabric of one of his well worn off duty shirts, and quickly pulled it on.

"Right. Stand up. I will turn around. Tell me when you want your shorts and pants." Radek's voice already sounded like he was facing away from him, so Rodney again did as he was told.

Rodney dressed as quickly as he could, fumbling a little as he figured out which was the right way for his shorts. The jeans Radek passed him were easier. Feeling around, Rodney located the creaky chair and sat down. "Socks? Shoes?"

"Here." Radek pressed the socks in his hand. Rodney pulled them on, then fumbled with his shoes for a moment before his fingers remembered how to do the laces. He'd put on and tied his shoes often enough in the dark that this wasn't that big a challenge. He just didn't like that Radek was hovering.

Sitting back up, Rodney scrubbed a hand through his hair. "Ready, I guess."

Part 8

Once outside of the infirmary, Rodney was instantly overwhelmed. There were new noises, people coming and going all around him. The air currents were moving, moving, never calm, only giving him a hint of information before changing. The antiseptic scents of the infirmary faded, replaced by military issue shoe polish, leather, and the flat metallic smell of Atlantis itself. Rodney heard the infirmary door whoosh closed behind him, but he didn't move. Couldn't move. Which way should he go? Where was everyone? He felt the first curl of panic rise in his gut as he cast around with his remaining senses, his brain working to put everything into some sort of order. Screw this. He wanted nothing more in that moment then to turn around and walk right back into the infirmary, back to the bed, and back to the sounds of John, Teyla, Ronon, and Carson. Right. Great idea.

Before he could turn, he felt a hand on his arm. Radek was still there. "Rodney, are you ready?" he asked, concern in his voice.

Rodney hated hearing it. "I'm fine, Radek. Let's go." He took a step forward, and Radek did the same. He still had his hand on Rodney's arm as he lead him further away from the sanctuary of the Infirmary. Rodney was torn between the wish to jerk his arm away and figure it out for himself, and the panicked need not to crash into anything or any one. He knew the path between the infirmary, his quarters, his labs, and the mess like the back of his hand, but with all these people and equipment in a constant, chaotic dance, he knew he'd never be able to navigate it on his own.

Trying to take his mind off the fact that he was totally reliant on Radek to lead him, he asked, "you said you had something for me. What is it?"

"It is in your quarters. You will find out when we get there," Radek answered him. "There are three stairs, please step up."

Rodney did as he was told. The stairs meant they were at the first junction of hallways. Now there would be a left turn and a short walk to the transporter. Radek was actually a good leader, Rodney thought as the shorter man wove them between obstacles. Rodney wondered he he'd done this type of thing before.

He'd just opened his mouth to ask when Radek spoke again. "Here is the transporter. Step inside." Rodney heard the doors open, and he and Radek stepped into the small space. There was a beep, Radek must have poked their destination on the transporter screen, the doors whisked shut.

A moment later the doors opened again, and Radek led him out into a much quieter hallway. Being midday, there wasn't a lot of activity in the crew quarters area, and Rodney felt himself relax a little. He pulled his arm away from Radek. He knew where he was going. His door was on the right hand side. Angling over to the right wall, Rodney walked along, his right hand a little in front of him gliding along the wall. He heard Radek sigh and follow behind him.

One door… two doors… three doors… Almost there… four doors… five. Rodney stopped and reached for the door panel. With a swish, the door opened.

The air inside Rodney's quarters was fairly still. He pictured his rooms in his mind. He's lived here so long, has come home so late at night so many times, this should be easy. He can feel Radek's presence behind him, crowding him. With an exasperated sigh, Rodney entered is quarters.

Standing just inside the door, he was at a loss as to what to do. He heard and felt Radek move past him, heading towards Rodney's desk. There was a click, and the sound of a computer booting up. Curious, Rodney drifted in that direction, but came to a sudden stop when he ran into a chair.

"Damn it!" Rodney huffed. There was a surprised gasp from Radek. Rodney gripped the chair with both hands, squeezing it, as he turned towards Radek. "What?" he snapped. Surely Radek wasn't scandalized that Rodney had cursed. Both of them did so on nearly a daily basis.

"Oh, um, it is nothing, Rodney," Radek's reply sounded hurried, but his tone of voice was what gave it away. He was surprised about something. Radek must have seen the annoyance and contempt on Rodney's face, because he continued, "It is just… this is the first time you've had your eyes open."

Rodney was about to snarl a reply, but he stopped himself. He'd been making a conscious effort to keep his eyes closed. If they were closed, his brain had a logical explanation for why he couldn't see. But the chair had surprised him, and he hadn't been thinking about it. He didn't even realize that he had opened them.

"What do they look like?" He didn't know why he'd asked. He'd thought about it, sure, but he didn't really want to know.

He heard Radek shifting his weight. He must have been uncomfortable. Well, tough. They were Rodney's useless eyes. All Radek had to do was look at them. "Erm… Rodney…"

"No, come on. Tell me." Rodney knew he was being stubborn, but now he did want to know, as well as make Radek do it.

Radek sighed, "alright. They… They are getting milky, Rodney. And I can still see… I can see hole where…"

Ok, Rodney didn't want to know. "What did you have to give me?"

"Oh!" Radek sounded happy at the change of subject. "Ano, I found this…" Rodney could hear him tapping on the computer. The tapping stopped, and there was a… skittering sound, and Radek grabbed one of Rodney's hands, turning it over and placing something on Rodney's palm. "Here. Put that on."

It felt like a radio head set, but… different. Heavier. "What is it?"

"Just put it on, please." Radek sounded almost eager.

Rodney tucked the thing behind his ear. Almost instantly, his head was filled with images. "What the hell…?" he started, but stopped. He could… see? There was no colour, and everything seemed a little faded or washed out, but suddenly, he could see Radek standing in front of him. Could see his desk, the window behind Radek. Rodney lifted his hand in front of his face. He could see it!

"I found it in the biology lab I was telling you about earlier." Radek said. "I believe it is some sort of… how do you say… ah, echolocation device the Ancients were working on."

"Oh my god, Radek… I… I can see you." Rodney was astonished. Radek grinned. It was faint, in Rodney's mind, like a blurry picture, but he could make out the flash of teeth.

"It is not a permanent solution, but it should help you get around until the specialists get here."

Rodney was smiling. Grinning. It was the first time he'd done so since the mission, with out the aid of mind altering drugs. He turned his head, and could look around his quarters. Could see his couch, the door to his bathroom, and, faintly, almost out of range, the door to his bedroom. Looking back at the desk, he pushed past Radek to check his computer.

His heart sank. He could see the computer, the shape of it, but couldn't read the screen. "There's no texture for the sound waves to bump off," he muttered, mostly to himself.

"Ano," Radek said from behind him. "This is why it is not a permanent solution."

Rodney turned back to his friend, not really sure what to say. Finally, he settled on, "Radek… thank you."

Part 9

Rodney was bored. He'd spent the last day re-exploring his quarters using his newfound echolocator. He'd found himself fascinated by the smallest things; how the couch looked from different angles, what the inside of the kitchenette cupboard full of mugs and glasses looked like, testing whether visible light had any effect on what he 'saw' (it didn't). He 'looked' at water flowing from the tap in the bathroom sink, at the crystals inside the door controls, at his clothes… He even opened his balcony door and looked out at the city. He couldn't see through glass, he found out, and his city view was limited to the guard rails of his balcony. But he didn't care. He could see. See enough to maybe be able to work. See enough to get around Atlantis without bumping into people. Not enough to go offworld on a mission, nor to read a computer screen or even a book, though. While he was sure that would frustrate him to madness later, for now it was acceptable. Fine, even.

Carson had released him to his quarters. He knew he wasn't supposed to go to the labs, or up to Ops, but maybe he'd go to the Mess, or go see how everyone else was getting on in the infirmary. Surely Carson couldn't get mad at him for those destinations. Tucking his radio behind his other ear, Rodney set out to forage for food and to see his friends.

On his way from the mess to the infirmary, Rodney wondered if he was scaring people. He knew he was grinning like an idiot- unusual in and of itself for him- but people he passed kept doing double takes. Or would look at him, then turn away quickly. His newfound sight had him in high spirits, of course, but he couldn't help but wonder if the mood regulators Carson had prescribed might have had something to do with his current opportunistic outlook as well. Either way, he couldn't bring himself to care that people where looking at him strangely. He just wanted to get to the infirmary and see how everyone else was holding up.

John looked up from his book when Rodney entered the recovery room. Rodney couldn't make out his expression very well, but it didn't matter because John's tone was full of delight. "Hey, buddy! How's it going?"

Rodney plopped himself down in John's wheelchair and rolled up to the side of the bed. "Actually, things are great," he waved a finger at the echolocator tucked behind his right ear. "Radek found this in one of the Ancient biology labs."

John was quiet for a moment, as if waiting for Rodney to continue. Finally, he prompted, "and?" in his best 'I have no idea what that means, Rodney' voice.

"It's some kind of echolocation device," Rodney elaborated. "I can see, John."

"Oh. Oh!" Rodney could almost see the puzzle pieces snap together in John's brain. "That's… that's great, Rodney!" He laughed, then muttered, "that explains a lot."

"Yup," Rodney replied happily. He turned his head and surveyed the room. Ronan seemed to be asleep, as was Major Lorne. Teyla's bed was empty. "Where's Teyla?" he asked, turning back to John.

"They took her for a scan to check how the leg's doing," John replied. "Hey…" he trailed off.

Rodney raised his eyebrows at him. "Yes? What?"

John shifted and seemed uncomfortable, but continued, "you, uh, might think about sunglasses, buddy."

Rodney gave him a blank look. "Sunglasses? Why would I… oh."

That's why people had been acting weird in the halls. They could see his eyes. His milky eyes with healing holes in them. Rodney had gotten so wrapped up in his new sight that he'd completely forgotten to keep his real eyes closed. And they were a constant reminder, to everyone, of what had happened. Rodney felt his grin fade slightly. He wished the Daedalus would hurry up and get here. He didn't know if anything could be done about his eyes- that was a question only the specialists could answer- but he wanted to find out. Soon.

"Och, Rodney, I didn't realize you'd come by!" He heard Carson's voice behind him and he wheeled the chair around to look at him. "Radek told me about the device he found," the doctor continued as he strode into the room. "How's it sit?"

John answered before Rodney could, "seems to be working, doc. Rodney came here on his own. Knew right were everything was." John sounded a little like a proud father, and it irked Rodney. Just a little.

"I'm blind, Sheppard, not mute," he snarked at his friend. John just laughed.

Part 10

Three weeks after getting released from the infirmary, one week after he was allowed to get back to work, five days after Dr. Heightmeyer asked Carson to wean him off the mood regulators, Rodney found himself once again at Carson's mercy. At least this time it had nothing to do with his eyes.

"Owch, damn it Carson!" Rodney tried to jerk his hand away, but Carson's grip was strong. "I thought you gave me a local!"

Carson sounded annoyed, "Aye, Rodney, I did. Now hold still." Carson continued cleaning the large gash that ran across his wrist and the back of his hand.

Rodney shifted his weight, "well, it's not working very well."

Carson just sighed, and continued on. Rodney could feel it when the scrub was pushed under a particularly large flap of skin, but he did admit, to himself anyway, that he wasn't in pain. It just felt very strange. "How did you do this, Rodney?" Carson asked.

Rodney rolled his eyes, not that it could be seen behind the sunglasses John had given him. "I was helping Radek. We were fixing the mechanisms for the underwater Jumper Bay doors. I donno what idiot designed the innards the way they are, but there's a small access hatch, just big enough to get your hand in. You have to fix it by touch," Rodney grumped. "That door has been gummy every since it was flooded. Well I found the problem- did you know that there's some kind of crustacean that can build a shell around door gears? Well, it was home."

Carson made a surprised sound. "Are you saying that this is a crab pinch?"

Rodney shrugged, "I donno what it was, but I was attacked."

Carson leaned back, obviously done cleaning the wound. "It needs stitches, and this skin flap looks a little iffy," he sighed again, and Rodney knew what was coming. "I'm afraid you'll be off work for a few days, Rodney."

Rodney opened his mouth to argue, but I've just gotten back! But Carson cut him off. "I know what you're going to say, but this hand is going to be bandaged. And with the stitches in, I don't want you moving it too much until the skin starts to heal. We'll recheck it in a couple days so I can see if the skin flap is going to be salvageable, but you have to let it heal."

Once Rodney escaped the infirmary, hand freshly bandaged and the local wearing off, he was not in the best of moods. So it was no wonder he snapped into his radio when he heard someone hailing him, "Yes, what?"

"Dr. McKay, Dr. Weir asked me to tell you that the Daedalus had just dropped out of hyperspace. They will be beaming down shortly, so please report to the infirmary."

"Oh. Right, yes, I'll be there," Rodney turned on his heel and went back the way he came, his bad mood and the growing throbbing of his hand forgotten. The specialists had arrived.

Part 11

Dr. Miriam Halvorsten and Dr. Jacob Henning were annoying. Rodney had sat through scans, and questions, had been poked and prodded, and the doctors still couldn't get over the technology at their fingertips. Normally, he would have been happy to answer their technology questions and baffle them with his brilliance, but at the moment, he only had one thing on his mind. He hated being this dependant on others for answers. For help.

Carson must have noticed Rodney's growing displeasure. "Well, doctors, you've seen the scans and gotten the history. Any ideas?" he prompted them.

Dr. Henning leaned back in his chair. It creaked under his weight. "The wounds themselves have healed nicely," he replied. "There's some scarring, but that can be taken care of easily enough."

"Do we know what was coating the sticks?" Dr. Halvorsten jumped in.

Carson flipped through Rodney's cart, "we pulled some traces from the wounds." Finding the relevant page, he handed her the chart.

Henning leaned over so he could see it too. Rodney was finding it harder and harder to keep quiet.

Suddenly, Henning laughed. Rodney jumped at the sound, and he and Carson both watched in confusion as he hauled himself out of his chair and over to the computer. "How to I look at all the scans done since the injury?" he asked. Carson moved to pull them up onscreen for him.

Henning stared at them for a moment, then nodded. "Have they been bothering you at all recently, Dr. McKay?"

"Uh, no," Rodney replied, and his voice sounded irritated. "They bugged me off and on last week, but nothing recently."

Henning nodded again, not looking at Rodney. Halvorsten moved up beside her colleague. "What is it, Jacob?"

Henning pointed to something on the screen. "The nerve is regenerating."

At this, Carson moved to look at the scans again as well. "Och, look at that…" he said to himself.

"And that means what, exactly?" Rodney snapped.

Henning ignored him. "The nerve is regenerating, but something is blocking the photoreceptors."

Rodney shifted, about to let loose a scathing verbal barrage, but Carson turned to him. "No light is getting to the part of your eye that receives it, Rodney. The nerves, damaged by the sticks, is healing itself."

"Do you think that it's the chemical coating on the sticks?" Halvorsten asked. Henning nodded.

"Look at the scans, it's coated them like some kind of goo. But his eye pressure isn't elevated," he turned to look at Carson. "Any chance of running some extra tests on the samples?"

Carson shook his head, "I'm afraid not. The compounds broke down fairly soon after we did the initial tests."

"Do you think it's converting the vitreous? The scans show a slow difference in the thickness," Halvorsten asked.

Henning nodded again, "That's what I'm thinking. But if that's the case, we've never seen it before. I was hoping to run some lab tests to confirm it."

Rodney suddenly thought that this must be what Elizabeth felt like whenever he and Radek started off on something. His head started to ache as he tried to keep up. Medicine was voodoo anyway, he'd never given it much attention before. Finally he cut in, "do you think you can fix it or not?"

All three doctors turned to look at him as if they'd forgotten he was sitting there. It was Henning who answered, "it's hard to say yet, but we'll know more if we can get a sample of the chemicals."

Rodney's heart sank. He knew what that meant. Someone was going to have to go back to the planet. Or maybe not, considering how Carson was staring at Henning.

"You want to get a sample from Rodney?"

"That would be the quickest way to determine what's going on," Henning answered. "We can get a sample and culture it, see what it does."

Rodney blanched, "You want to *what*?!"

Carson came to stand in front of him, "Rodney, it would be the quickest way. The other option is to go back to the planet and try to collect the chemical, but that would put another team at risk in hostile territory."

"I know that, I'm not an idiot, Carson. They're talking about sticking a needle in my eye!" Rodney could feel his heart rate speeding up. Memories were dancing in his head, trying to get his attention. Carson put a hand on his arm.

"We wont be doing anything without your consent, Rodney. But the more I think about it, the more I agree that it would be the best option. I can fully sedate you, and I'll be with you the whole time." Carson's words were soothing, and his hand on Rodney's arm gave him something to focus on. Slowly, Rodney clamped down on the memories and pushed them back. They were right, he knew.

And he trusted Carson.

Part 12

Rodney felt rather lost as he wandered the corridors of Atlantis later that day. It was decided that samples would be taken tomorrow, which was good for Henning and Halversten, because Carson would have them well acquainted with the instruments and technology by then. It was bad for Rodney, because now he had almost twenty four hours to brood on it. He tried not to, of course. Last thing he wanted was to suddenly have the memories flood him. He'd end up back with either Carson or Kate, and probably back on medication. The echolocation device was a good way to keep himself distracted though. He was still getting used to how the world looked with it. His hand ached where Carson had put the stitches in, but he'd already taken pain medication, it just hadn't kicked in yet.

Rodney sighed and turned a corner at random. He had no where he had to be, since he was once again banished from the labs. He couldn't eat anything right now even if he wanted to. He'd asked Carson, in private, to explain what the hell the eye doctors had been talking about. Carson had given him a quick anatomy lesson, and had explained what they would be sampling tomorrow. Rodney had been instantly reminded of Jello, sadly. It would be a while before he would be able to eat it again.

"Rodney?"

Rodney turned to see John poking his head around a door. After a moment's confusion- Rodney knew this wasn't were John's quarters were- he realized he'd just passed Ronon's quarters.

"Hey John," he said, "how's Ronon doing?"

"Better," a gruff voice said from inside the room. John beckoned him inside. Ronon was sitting on the edge of his bed. There was a table in front of him, and a chair opposite. The table was covered in gun bits, cleaning supplies, and knives. John and Ronon had been having a weapon cleaning pow-wow. "How's the eyes?" Ronon asked as John pulled another chair over for Rodney.

Rodney sat and shrugged. "They want to take samples tomorrow."

"You mean like…" John waved a hand at his own eyes. Rodney nodded. "You're ok with this?"

Rodney didn't say anything.

"You're gonna do it though," Ronon said. It wasn't a question.

Rodney nodded.

"We'll be there," Ronon spoke again. "We'll watch your back. And be there when you wake up." John was nodding his agreement.

Rodney wasn't sure what to say about this show of support. He hated how this whole thing made him feel so weak, so dependant, but he couldn't help but be grateful of his friends. He was saved from saying anything when John noticed his bandaged hand.

"Rodney," his tone was reproachful.

"Hmm?"

"What did you do to your hand?"

Rodney was then forced to explain the whole stupid story again, finally finishing with, "so I'm stuck off duty again for a while. Though with them poking new… well, I'd probably have been put back on leave again anyway." Eager to change the subject, he asked, "Where's Teyla?"

John shrugged. Holling and Jinto came to visit her today, so I haven't seen much of them. She's doing fine though. Carson says her leg is healing great."

"Good. That's good. And you two? Any pain?"

Ronon shook his head, not that he'd have admitted to it anyway. John rubbed his chest absently. "It twinges sometimes, but it's been fine. I'm not allowed to run anywhere yet though," he seemed sad about that, and Rodney had to laugh.

Part 13

The next day, the walk to the infirmary seemed to take ages. Flanked by John and Ronon, Rodney trudged down the corridors, his mind focused on only one thing: putting one foot in front of the other. He hadn't been able to sleep at all the night before. Every time he tried, the memories would come, would rush to the surface, and he'd sit up, sweating, shaking, fighting not to give in. Eventually he'd given up, dressed and left his quarters. He'd wandered Atlantis for three hours, haunting the corridors, until the city began to wake up. Radek had found him lurking in the labs. He'd been sitting at his station, trying to remember where he'd left off on his current projects. Without access to a computer, all he could do was ponder, but it had kept his mind off the memories. Radek hadn't said anything about his visit. He knew what was planned for Rodney that day. They'd sat while Radek drank his coffee, and they'd discussed the current projects, bouncing ideas back and forth like they always did.

As the others started arriving, Radek shooed him out. It was time for him to go to the infirmary anyway, and while Radek knew what he was going through, he wouldn't let him put it off. "Just go and get it over with, Rodney," he'd told him. "The sooner they figure it out, the sooner you can return to work."

So now Rodney was at the infirmary doors, John and Ronon at his side. He hesitated again, feeling like he was walking towards his own execution. Before he could bolt, however, Carson was there. Leading him to an exam table, he took Rodney's sunglasses and handed them to John before turning back to Rodney and starting his pre-anaesthesia exams.

When he was satisfied that Rodney could be safely anesthetized, Carson stepped back and smiled at him. "It'll be alright Rodney. Dr. Henning is the best at what he does. Easy-peasy, in and out. This may be the key to figuring out how to get your sight back."

Rodney knew this, of course. It was the only thing keeping him in the infirmary. Dr. Henning and Dr. Halvorsten were waiting, and everything was ready to go. All they were waiting for was him. As Carson led him towards the OR, Rodney turned to look at his teammates. John smiled at him, and though it was hard for Rodney to make out, he figured it was probably his best encouraging smile. Ronon just watched, stoic as always. They weren't going to let anything bad happen to him, he knew. And neither was Carson.

Once in the OR, Carson directed Rodney to lay down. "Are you ready?" he asked. Rodney gulped and managed a small nod. He could feel his heart beat pounding in his ears, and his stomach felt like it was trying to crawl out of his mouth and run away. He carefully did not turn his head. He didn't want to see the preparations going on around him. He kept his focus on Carson.

Gently, Carson placed a mask over Rodney's nose and mouth. As the oddly sweet smell of the anesthetic gas coated his nose and started to blur his senses, he saw Carson smile down at him again. Then the world started greying out.

Rodney woke slowly. People were talking quietly around him. The world was still a little muted and far away, but he could hear John, Teyla, and Carson's voices. He could still smell the gas, like his nose was coated with it. As he swum towards the surface and the muzzy feeling started to dissipate, he suddenly wondered if he was going to sneeze.

He did. The conversations stopped. He sneezed again, and could suddenly smell the leather of Ronon's tunic, John's aftershave, the polishing wax Teyla used on her bantos sticks, Carson's antiseptic and hair gel, and the clean linen of the bed he was laying on.

"Hey, buddy, you in there yet?" John asked him. Rodney felt the air shift and the smell of his aftershave as John leaned over him.

Rodney tried to say 'I think so,' but it came out something like, "Ifflukle."

"The effects of the anesthetic should completely wear off shortly," he heard Carson tell him. "You did great, Rodney. We got the samples no problem."

"Easy-peasy…" Rodney mumbled.

"Aye, my friend," he heard the smile in Carson's voice.

Part 14

When Henning and Carson came to see Rodney the next morning, he was sitting up in his infirmary bed, right in the middle of a full-blown snit and geek-out with Radek. He was so focused on the argument that he didn't even notice the doctors' arrival.

"What do you mean that won't work?!"

"I am telling you, Rodney, the calculations just do not add up! With these, you would have us blowing ourselves up instead of conserving and redistributing power!"

"Oh, so sorry if I'm doing all these calculations in my HEAD, Zelenka," Rodney yelled over the Czech, "it's not like I can look at a computer screen!"

Radek made an exasperated noise, "Do not try to make excuses, I will not believe them. You would still have made mistake even if you could see the screen!"

"The power calculations YOU presented me with would leave too many vital systems starving!"

Carson cleared his throat, but Rodney ignored him as Radek let out a stream of Czech.

"Oh yeah, THAT'S mature, Radek, I know you're insulting me, even if I don't know what you're saying!"

Carson tried again, "Rodney!"

Rodney turned and snarled "WHAT?!" When he saw who it was though, he stopped. The frustration, fury, and *slight* enjoyment at getting to bicker and argue with Radek drained away, and he stared at the doctors in trepidation.

"We could hear you two all the way across the infirmary," Carson told him.

Rodney sneered. It was their fault, really. He'd wanted to go back to his quarters for the night, but Carson had insisted on keeping him, just to make sure he didn't have a reaction to the medications or a panic attack. He could have had this argument with Radek in the comfort of his labs, but Carson had ordered him to stay put. "Please tell me you both didn't come all the way over here to tell me that irrelevant bit of news." Turning on Henning, he added, "Henning, can you fix my eyes or not? I have work to do. I have galaxies to save, not only from the Wraith, but from my incompetent research teams, and the sooner you get moving and fix my eyes, the easier it will be for me to save our collective asses."

Radek let out another snarl of Czech, but Rodney was busy watching Dr. Henning shift his weight uncomfortably, obviously not expecting a verbal barrage. Inside, Rodney smirked.

"It's still too soon to know, but I did want to tell you that the samples survived and the cultures are growing. We should know later today what the chemical is doing, and by tomorrow we'll know if we can fix it or not," Henning told him.

This is why Rodney preferred the hard sciences. Aside from not dealing with people as much, there wasn't a lot of wait-time while research specimens were being grown. He waved a dismissive hand at Henning, "Fine, thank you for telling me, now let me get back to real work." He turned back to Radek, ready to continue their argument. He heard Henning walk away, but then Carson's hand was on his arm.

"Rodney. Not really a great idea to antagonize the people who heal you," Carson admonished. "And do not yell in my infirmary. You'll disturb the other patients."

"If you'd let me out of here, you and your patients wouldn't have to hear genius at work," Rodney snipped.

Carson let out a frustrated sigh. "Fine. Go on and get out of here. You're healthy enough for now," Carson squeezed his arm. It wasn't reassuring squeeze.

"Thank you!" Rodney rolled his eyes and swung his legs over the side of the bed, pushing Carson away in the process.

Part 15

Rodney was in the mess hall, having dinner with John, Ronon, and Teyla. Carson had only let him out of the infirmary earlier that day, and Rodney had been happy to scurry off to the labs and set up residence there. Part of it was that he really wanted to get back to work, but he did admit to himself that mostly he just wanted to keep his mind off the dull pain and pressure of his newly abused eyes. So he spent the day arguing with Radek, yelling at his staff, and generally getting in the way. Radek had finally radioed John to come take him away, but unfortunately for the Czech, Rodney had heard him. When John came into the labs, Rodney and Radek were busy almost screaming at each other. The rest of the scientists in the room were all hunched over their stations, trying to make themselves as small and unnoticeable as possible. John finally managed to drag Rodney away, and the two had gone to meet Ronon and Teyla for dinner.

Rodney was almost finished when Carson's voice came over his radio. "Rodney, would you come down to the infirmary, please?"

Rodney stopped eating, and John looked at him quizzically. "What's up?" he asked.

"Carson wants me in the infirmary," Rodney told them.

Ronon leaped to his feet, "Lets go then. Maybe they've found something."

Rodney shook his head as he stood, "Henning said not until tomorrow."

Ronon practically dragged Rodney down to the infirmary, John and Teyla following behind them. Rodney would have gone on his own, but Ronon seemed excited and didn't want to wait.

When they got there, Carson greeted them with a grin, and Rodney couldn't help but wonder what that meant. He felt a small coil of hope in his chest, but he tried to suppress it, just in case. Carson beckoned the team into the waiting area of the infirmary, and Rodney saw that Henning, Halversten, and Elizabeth were already there.

"Right," Henning said, "now that we're all here, I have news. The samples are doing exactly what I predicted they would. The unaffected vitreous is being converted by the already infected vitreous. It's thickening, changing so that it will not allow light to pass to the photoreceptors. The chemical they used started the process, but from what we can see, it was just a catalyst. It's started a chain reaction conversion process."

Rodney tried to remember what Carson had told him in his brief medical lesson. He was about to just give up and tell Henning to get to the point, but Elizabeth beat him to it. "What does this mean, Dr. Henning?"

Halversten stepped in, "it means that now that we know what it's doing, we can run some tests and see if we can reverse the process. I already have a few ideas and have some tests running," she paused and smiled hesitantly. "I don't want to get your hopes too high, Dr. McKay, but so far, it looks promising."

"Especially with the addition of some of this Ancient technology," Henning added. "Most of this medical equipment is so far beyond us. However, the scanner did seem to recognize the samples…" he looked to Carson, unsure how to explain.

Carson started to speak, but Rodney cut him off, "wait, you're saying that the ancient scanner knows whats happening with my eyes? Why the hell didn't it respond to it when it scanned ME? Why only the samples?"

"Let me speak, Rodney," Carson lightly admonished. "I'm not sure why the scanner didn't identify it while scanning Rodney, but in any case, it's recognizing the problem now. And there's even a section in the ancient database that talks about experiences with problems very like this. I'm not done going through it, but, Rodney," he turned and smiled again. "I think we can definitely fix this."

Part 16

Rodney felt like he was floating as he walked through the corridors of Atlantis. They could fix his eyes! His feet felt light, and he was once again grinning like an idiot as he turned and entered the labs. Radek looked up, saw the expression on his face, and asked, "what happened?"

"The docs think they can fix my eyes!" If possible, Rodney's grin widened.

Radek's grin was a mirror of his own, "That is wonderful news, my friend!"

"Dr. McKay," a tense voice came over his radio, "please report to Ops immediately."

Rodney's grin faded, and he sighed, "it's always something around here. I'm wanted in Ops."

Radek looked like he was listening to something no one else could hear. Then he nodded. "I have also been requested."

"Right," Rodney turned, and the two left the labs.

Stargate Operations was in chaos when they arrived. A security detail was guarding the inactive stargate, Chuck was relaying orders from Elizabeth over his radio, and there were people working feverishly over the computers.

Elizabeth beckoned them over when she saw them. "Radek, I need you to update all the security feeds and check for hacks," she ordered. "Rodney, when did you last see Dr. Halversten?"

Radek and Rodney stood still, unsure what was going on. "Uh, same time you did," Rodney replied. "What's going on?"

"We have reason to believe that Halversten is from the Trust," Elizabeth said. She raised an eyebrow at Radek, but he was already scurrying off to do as he had been ordered.

"The Trust?!" Rodney sputtered, "How? Why? Did something happen?"

"Elizabeth," Radek sounded disturbed.

"Yes, Radek," both Elizabeth and Rodney moved to the computer Radek had been working on. Rodney even looked at the screen before he remembered that he wouldn't be able to see anything.

"There has been a hack," Radek told them.

Elizabeth nodded grimly, "What was she looking for?"

Radek shook his head, "Ne, ne, it is not what she is looking for. It is what she is adding."

"Adding?" Elizabeth and Rodney spoke at the same time.

"Ano. I… I am not sure what she is doing. It does not seem to be a virus."

Rodney tried to look at the computer again, before he let out a frustrated sigh. Of all the times… he felt utterly useless.

"Dr. Weir! We've found her," Chuck called. He listened to his radio again, "uh, they don't think she's the one responsible, ma'am. They're taking her to the isolation room, just in case, but Cadman and Anders are thinking we have the wrong person."

"Alright, tell them I'll meet them there. Dr. Zelenka, please try to figure out what she did, and try to contain it if possible," Elizabeth turned on her heel and headed out of Ops.

Rodney watched her go, unsure what he should do. He couldn't help Radek, he certainly couldn't help security. He was about to follow Elizabeth when he heard Radek breathe, "Ach můj bože."

"What?" Rodney snapped.

Radek turned to look at him. "There is new set of commands for stargate. The shield is offline. And there is holes growing in the database."

The two stared at each other in silent shock for a moment. The stargate could be dialed and anyone could come through, but even worse, someone was trying to erase the Ancient database. Rodney sat down next to Radek. "What about the backups? The Ancients put so many firewalls, backups and redundancies in place…"

Radek was typing, nodding in agreement with what Rodney was saying, "Ano, I am checking-" he stopped typing suddenly and let out a stream of what Rodney recognized as Czech expletives. "I am locked out!"

All around him, Rodney heard people exclaiming different versions of the same thing. He reached for his radio. "Elizabeth, Halversten isn't the one. Or not the only one. Someone is still actively on the network somewhere. We're locked out."

Part 17

Rodney followed Elizabeth into the briefing room a few hours later. Radek, John Ronon, Carson, and Lorne were already there. Rodney heard the tail end of an admonishment from Carson, probably directed at Lorne, John and Ronon for even being there, as they entered.

"Alright, what do we know?" Elizabeth didn't waste any time.

"We've grabbed everyone who came over with the Daedalus," John replied. "No one seems to know anything, but we have Dr. Heightmeyer and a team interviewing them now."

Elizabeth nodded and turned to Radek. She didn't say anything, just looked at him expectantly.

"The hack is very good. I have only been able to retake limited control," Radek sounded tired and frustrated. Rodney understood, he'd stayed with Radek for most of the past couple hours, trying to help him get back in. Radek had eventually snapped at him and told him to go somewhere else. "What this means is we can watch was is happening, but I am unable to stop it yet."

"And what is happening?" Lorne asked.

"Well, at first I thought that they were trying to erase the Ancient database. However, I believe they are actually trying to compress it," at the confused looks around him, Radek tried to elaborate. "It is like they are trying to transfer the whole database to a, a.. giant flash drive, for lack of a better word. To do this, they are trying to compress the data so that it will fit. We already know that the database is simply too large for this kind of transfer, and the data compression is not working. I am not sure if data is being totally lost or corrupted. I cannot access enough of the network to check."

"What about the stargate?" John asked.

"Our ability to control it is completely gone," Rodney spoke up. "If someone dialled, the only thing standing between them and us are the guards you posted on the gate. And we cannot dial out."

"Carson, I want you to put a team together and check everyone we have in custody," Elizabeth ordered. "Radek, keep trying to get control back. We can't lose the database. Rodney, take a science team and try to take the gate out of the network. Maybe we can get manual control."

Once the meeting had ended, Rodney called in some of his research team and they got to work on the gate. It irked him that he needed someone else there to take the readings on the DHD, but at least there was physical work that he could do here. Selfishly, he had to wonder how long he would have to wait until they could try to get his vision back now. Henning and Halversten were both on the suspect list, after all. His hands stilled as he had a moment of panic. He'd been sedated with both of them in the room! No, Carson had been there, and he wouldn't have let anything odd happen to him.

"Dr. McKay?" one of the scientists had seen him pause, hands full of wires and crystals. He shook his head at her and got back to work. Now was not the time to worry about his eyes. He had a city to save, after all.

They just weren't sure what they were saving it from yet.

Part 18

Rodney was in the middle of another yelling session with one of his scientists, Dr. Miran, when Elizabeth came to him for an update. "What's the progress with the DHD?" she asked, tight lipped.

Rodney glared one last time at the latest unfortunate object of his wrath and turned to Elizabeth. "The DHD was never meant to go off the network. The Ancients have it tied into so many systems, some of which we haven't explored yet, that it's hard to know what will happen if we do take it offline. And since all of my information on the readings is second hand," he glared at Dr. Miran again and continued, "it's been a lot of second guessing and incompetent interpretations. Seriously, can you even read?!"

"Rodney!" Elizabeth stopped him. "We don't have time for this."

"Has Carson finished examining the suspects?" Radek asked from where he was working.

Elizabeth nodded and sighed, "he has. As far as he can tell, everyone is fine."

"Do we still think it's the Trust if no one has a snake in their head?" Rodney asked.

"We've seen them use brainwashing techniques before, and who else could it really be?" Radek replied. Elizabeth nodded.

"No time loss or anything?" Rodney figured he was grasping at straws now, but everyone was baffled by the current situation.

"Kate and I were just about to sit down and talk about all this. But we need to get the gate working, Rodney. We're completely cut off, and we need to contact Earth."

Rodney nodded and kneeled back down under the console. "Right, yes, yes, working as fast as I can here, given the circumstances."

****

"Damn it!" Rodney shook his hand and jammed his fingers in his mouth. Of course the shock had to scorch his already injured hand. Pulling himself out from under the DHD, he snarled, "that's it! You! Get out of here! Zelenka!"

"I'm busy, Rodney," he heard Radek respond. The Czech didn't even look up from his computer.

"You haven't made any progress on that, and I need someone competent over here. So get over here and take readings for me," Rodney snapped. Dr. Miran was still standing there, computer in his hand. He looked surprised, and maybe a little unsure. Rodney rounded on him again. "Why are you still standing there?! I said 'get out,' didn't I? Are you deaf as well?"

Dr. Miran put down the computer and fled.

Radek was staring at Rodney when he turned to look at the Czech. "Rodney…"

Rodney held up his burned and bandaged hand. "Just get over here. I think I'm on to something, and it'll go a lot faster if I don't have to second guess everything that idiot is saying."

****

Half an hour later, Radek and Rodney had wrestled the DHD out of the network, which Rodney was happy to report at their next status meeting. They could send a message to Earth any time.

"So the shield is working again?" John asked.

Rodney nodded, "we can turn it off and on, and we can recognize incoming IDCs, so that shouldn't be a problem. So… do we know who to blame for all this yet?"

"I'll be doing another round of interviews when we're done here," Kate leaned forward and rested her elbows on the briefing room table. "I'm sure the answer's there somewhere."

John shifted forward as well, "of course the answer's there. We've quarantined everyone who came over with the Daedalus and it has to be one of them. Unless the snake has jumped hosts…" he trailed off, as if surprised he'd even said that.

All heads turned to stare at him. There was a moment of silence as everyone digested this new possibility. Rodney felt a shiver run up his spine. A snake, loose in Atlantis?

Radek cleared his throat, "Actually, this would make sense. I'm still seeing some evidence of recent activity within the network. After everyone was quarantined. It is not constant, but it does look as if someone is logging in and out."

"Is Atlantis' life signs detector working?" John asked. "I mean, wouldn't someone with a snake in their head show up as two life forms?"

Radek and Rodney both nodded, though Radek was the one who spoke. "I believe they would show up as two life signs, however, the detector is linked into the network, so is unavailable to us."

"The hand held life signs detectors should still work though," John said. "I'll get my security teams to start scanning every one."

"That's a start at least," Elizabeth responded. Her voice sounded very tired to Rodney. "Carson, you didn't see any evidence of entry or exit in your examinations?"

"I'm afraid not, but I'll check again," Carson replied. He sounded tired too, and maybe a little angry.

Rodney was rather tired and angry himself. And frustrated. How was he supposed to save the city when he had to rely on his underlings? And how was Radek supposed to regain control of the network and database without his help? And Carson, with all his voodoo genius, couldn't identify whoever may have been harbouring a snake? As the meeting broke up, he felt as if they were no closer to figuring everything out. In fact, the chilling idea that a Goa'uld may be loose in the city would only serve to make everyone suspicious of each other. If they were all too busy second-guessing one another, then they'd never be able to figure this out. As Rodney and Radek began work on the city-wide life signs detectors, Rodney had to hope that John's security teams would find the snake and host quickly.

Part 19

Three days had passed, and Atlantis seemed to be at an uneasy standoff with their invisible enemy. Rodney scrubbed his itchy eyes under his sunglasses and then rested his face in his hands. He and Radek had managed to hack back into the database only yesterday. To everyone's relief, the many backups installed by the Ancients had served them well. Everything was intact.

The Goa'uld, it seemed, had given up on trying to steal the database. Maybe it knew they were onto it. Whatever the reason, the random logging in and out had stopped at about the same time Radek cracked into the network.

John had, of course, been excited about the news that they had control again. "Can we check and see who's been logging in and out?" he had asked, rocking on his heels.

Rodney and Radek had shared a look. "Not exactly," Rodney had replied. "There's been about twenty different log in codes used. I don't know how it got them. No sign of who it's hiding in yet?"

John had shaken his head. "No hits with the life signs detectors. But now that we're back in the network, we can use the citywide ones. Dr. Heightmeyer and Dr. Beckett still are coming up empty. Carson's pretty frustrated, actually. No entry or exit wounds, not even any irritation in the throat…" John trailed off, puzzled and disturbed. Finally, he just said, "Keep digging, guys, find out how it's gotten so many access codes. And maybe where it's been logging in from, if possible. I'm gonna go check the city sensors."

Rodney had not slept well in the past three days. And his eyes had been bugging him more and more as well. The tenth time he reached to rub them, Radek sighed. "Rodney, go to the infirmary already. If they are bugging you, you should get it checked."

"They're not bugging me," Rodney insisted. Radek just looked at him, and though his expression was hard for Rodney to make out, he figured it was disbelief. He threw up his hands hands and stood up. "Fine, fine, smart guy."

***

The infirmary was oddly still and quiet when Rodney arrived. Head swinging left and right, he looked around him as he moved deeper into the rooms. Where the hell was everyone? As he passed into the recovery ward, he could see the door to Carson's office. It was open, so he was probably there.

Rodney strode over and pushed open the door. Carson was sitting at his desk, arms folded on the top of it. His head was resting on his arms. Rodney stood still for a moment and could hear Carson's breathing, deep and even. Asleep then. He was about to call his name, wake him up, when Rodney heard another sound in the small room. It was faint, almost indiscernible from the background noise of Atlantis. Whispering, hissing. Rodney looked around again, but didn't find anything out of the ordinary in the room. Of course, he couldn't see light and dark, colours, or through glass. This sounded… almost like a-

Rodney reached up and pulled the echo locator off. Instantly, he was plunged into darkness, but with the darkness, his other senses intensified. He stood still, felt the air currents, tried to smell past Carson's scents and the normal infirmary smells. His ears strained to hear the faint noises.

Moving a little closer to Carson, the sounds grew slightly louder. When Rodney figured he was fairly close to the back of Carson's chair, he reached out to find it with his hand.

His hand passed through an icy breeze. He jerked his hand back, but it was too late. Suddenly, the faint whispering and hissing grew louder and louder. As he stumbled back towards the door, the cold chased him, and he was suddenly engulfed in an icy whirlwind of sensory overload. He tried to scream, to call out to Carson, or any one, but his voice was ripped away by the crushing wind. He felt an icy hand clamp onto his chest, and then he didn't feel anything at all.

Part 20

Someone was shaking him. A distant voice called his name. The voice sounded frantic. There was pressure on his chest, then it was gone, then back again. His ribs flashed painfully with every press. But he didn't care. He was oddly peaceful, as if all was right with the world.

No, something was wrong.

Press, release, press, release…

Someone pinched his nose, a mouth pressed to his, his lungs inflated. Everything became slightly clearer. No, something was definitely wrong with this.

Press, release, press, release…

Come on, Rodney!

…Carson?

He felt his heart stutter and thud. Awareness flooded his mind. He sucked in a ragged breath, suddenly aware of how much his body needed it. The hands on his chest moved, and he felt cool fingers on his throat. Checking his pulse. What happened?

"Carson?" he croaked.

"Och, thank god. Rodney, I'm here," Carson responded. "Get a stretcher, we need to get him hooked up and under a scanner," his voice had changed direction, he was giving someone else orders. A nurse?

Moments later, hands were on him, sliding him sideways onto a stretcher, and then he was lifted and carried to a bed. "What happened?" he tried to ask, but his mouth wasn't working quite right.

"Don't speak yet, Rodney. Let us check you out." Rodney felt someone unbutton his shirt, felt the sticky pads of monitoring leads pressed to his chest. A moment later, the hum of the scanner started as it moved above him.

As he waited, he tried to remember what had happened. Radek had told him to go to the infirmary and get his eyes checked. They'd been bugging him. And there was… something else. Something important.

They'd both been awake too long, because the city was in peril. As if it was never in peril. But there was something different about it this time. A snake. There was a Goa'uld loose in Atlantis. Rodney frowned. No, that wasn't right either.

Nothing about the behaviour of their elusive enemy fit the M.O. of a Goa'uld. No one was trying to take over, there hadn't been any attempts to destroy the city. All the time the gate had been unprotected, the Trust had not even attempted to send reinforcements. Now, granted, that could simply be because the SGC had stopped them, but when Dr. Weir had updated them on the situation, the SGC hadn't said anything about problems on their end. No, something was wrong with this whole picture, but his thoughts kept shying away from the most recent memories.

Carson had been giving him CPR…

The scanner stopped and beeped, and Rodney jerked, surprised. "What?" he asked, his voice a little stronger.

"It's just finished scanning, Rodney," Carson replied. His voice was turned away, he must have been looking at the screen.

Rodney suddenly wondered where his echolocator was. He'd taken it off… so he could hear that sound better!

Suddenly, everything came back. The hissing, whispering noise, the unbelievable volume, the wind, the icy hand… Rodney's hand flew to his chest. There was no injury, nothing to show that a Wraith had tried to feed. It hadn't been a Wraith. It was something else, something they hadn't seen before.

And it had been hovering around Carson.

Part 21

Not long after Carson moved Rodney to a recovery bed, he heard Elizabeth and John arrive. They were talking about him again, but they were in Carson's office, just out of range for Rodney to be able to understand what they were saying. He knew he'd been acting strange toward Carson ever since he remembered what had happened, but he couldn't help it. Rodney didn't know if the entity was still with the doctor or not, but he figured it never hurt to be cautious.

As the door of Carson's office opened, Rodney caught the words, "I recommend holding him for observation."

He heard all three of them approaching. "Let's just talk to Rodney first," John was saying, "and see what he remembers."

"His heart stopped, Colonel-" Carson started, but John must have waved him off or something, because he didn't finish.

A moment later, the air currents shifted, and Rodney could smell John and Elizabeth standing over him. "Hey, guys," he said, trying to sound normal. He couldn't tell where Carson was, and for the first time since he'd met the man, it made him nervous.

"Rodney." John said.

Rodney didn't answer his unspoken question. Instead, he motioned at his ear, "any idea where my echolocator is, Carson?"

"Carson's gone to look over the scans," Elizabeth answered. She took his hand, and pressed something into it. Rodney felt it for a moment, then smiled.

Tucking the echolocator behind his ear, he looked up at the concerned expressions of his friends. He did a quick look around, but didn't see Carson anywhere. "Something's wrong," he said, turning back to John and Elizabeth.

"What do you mean, Rodney?" John asked. "There's kind of a lot of things wrong at the moment."

"There's something wrong with Carson. Some kind of, of, entity, creature, something, is with him," Rodney wasn't sure how to explain what had happened.

"What are you talking about?" Elizabeth asked, confused. "He seems perfectly normal to me."

"Look, all I know is that I came in here to tell him that my eyes were bugging me, and he was asleep at his desk. Before I could wake him, I heard this noise." He turned to directly face John. "It sounded like a Shadow. You know, those things the Wraith project? But it was different."

"Okay…" John replied, drawing out the word. "Different how?"

"Corporeal."

"What? Rodney, you're not making a lot of sense. Carson…"

Rodney held up a hand, "just let me finish, ok? I took off my echolocator so I could focus on listening to the noise. I moved closer to where Carson was, and reached out to put a hand on the back of his chair so I wouldn't, you know, crash into him or anything. My hand passed through a very cold piece of air. Almost like when it's the middle of winter, and you have a draft under your door or something."

"How does this turn into your heart stopping?" Elizabeth asked. Her voice sounded disbelieving.

"I'm not done!" Rodney insisted. "Anyway, suddenly I'm surrounded by this icy wind, and the whispering sound is overwhelmingly loud. I have no idea what it was saying, or even if it was actually talking, but I felt like I was caught in a hurricane or something. Then, I felt a hand on my chest, like I was about to be fed on by a Wraith." He looked around, then added, "And that's all I remember."

"So," John began, his voice slow, "you're saying that whatever entity you think was hanging around Carson attacked you?"

"I also think it may be behind our other problems to, John. I've been thinking about this, and nothing we've seen fits the behaviour of a Goa'uld or the Trust."

John and Elizabeth exchanged glances.

"What?" Rodney asked, and even to him, his voice sounded suspicious.

"Rodney, Carson's version of events are a little different," Elizabeth started. "He says that he was asleep at his desk, and woke up when he heard you scream and fall to the ground."

"He didn't say anything about a gale-force wind in his office," John added. "No voices or sudden temperature drops, either."

"You don't believe me?!" Rodney asked, incredulous. "It's not like I just had a heart attack! Something happened to me, I was attacked!"

"Carson should be done looking over the scans soon, Rodney, and then we'll know more," Elizabeth put her and on his arm, trying to calm him down. "It's not that we don't believe you, it's just…" she trailed off, and Rodney saw her glance at John.

"It's just that none of us, including you, have all the facts yet," John finished. "Let's just see what the good doctor says."

Part 22

Rodney kept watch over Carson whenever the doctor was in the infirmary. He even took his echolocator off every once in a while so he could focus on sounds, but so far, he had achieved nothing except aggravating his friend.

The fifth time Rodney pulled off his echolocator while Carson was checking his chart, the doctor finally exclaimed, "bloody hell, Rodney, what are you doing?!"

"Nothing!" Rodney insisted, quickly slipping the device back behind his ear. He tried to look innocent, but Carson obviously wasn't buying it.

Carson put down Rodney's chart and moved to the side of his bed. "John told me what you said happened."

Rodney wasn't sure what to say to that. He was a little shocked that John had said anything. He'd made sure to tell John and Elizabeth everything when Carson was out of the room for a good reason. Finally, he stuttered, "he, he told you what, exactly?"

"That you think something attacked you," Carson said mildly. "That there was some sort of entity in the room with us."

"…and?" Rodney snarled, already defensive.

Carson shook his head, "there's no reason to react like that, Rodney. I believe you."

Rodney felt his eyes widen. "You… you do?"

"Aye. Your scans were clean. There's no explanation for your heart stopping like that. You were dead, Rodney." Carson's voice was very serious. "True, nothing was disturbed in my office, so there was no actual wind, but… I'm at a loss, and stranger things have happened in this galaxy."

Rodney was still wondering where this was going, exactly, but he was glad someone believed him. "You haven't noticed anything strange, have you?" Carson just shook his head. "How come I did?" Rodney mumbled to himself.

"Maybe because without proper eyesight, your other senses are heightened," Carson suggested. Sighing, he rubbed his eyes. "I'll have a nurse check on you in a little while. But try to get some sleep. It's the middle of the night."

"Where are you going?" Rodney asked.

"I'm knackered, and off duty right now, but I'll not leave you alone here tonight. I've already made up a cot in my office, so I'll be close by if anything happens." Carson reassured him.

Rodney figured that was acceptable. Carson wouldn't be much good to anyone, especially him, if he was already exhausted and forced to stay up. "Well, go on then," he waved him off.

Carson flashed him a smile, then headed towards his office.

***

Some time later, Rodney woke up. He stayed still, just listening, though he wasn't sure what had awakened him. Sitting up in the bed, he pulled the echolocator off and focused.

Whispering.

Rodney stopped breathing for a moment. It was back. He tried to work out where the sound was coming from, turning his head back and forth to get an idea of where the sound was strongest.

Carson's office.

Suddenly, the whispering died away, and the infirmary was silent but for the normal background hum of Atlantis.

Rodney pulled back the covers, ready to get out of bed and investigate, when he heard footsteps leaving Carson's office. He tucked the echolocator behind his ear, and was able to watch as Carson walked across the infirmary and out the door. He wasn't moving quite right though. Almost like he was sleepwalking… or possessed.

Oh, crap.

Quickly, Rodney slid out of bed and followed his friend.

Part 23

As Rodney followed Carson through the night-quiet corridors, he tried to work out just what was going on. Carson was possessed. Rodney shook his head. That didn't even sound scientifically plausible. Much more up voodoo alley than he was used to. What other explanation was there, though? Carson certainly didn't sleepwalk.

Carson- or the entity- didn't seem to be aware of his presence as they walked deeper into the city. Rodney still kept as quiet as possible, just in case. As time passed, he began to wonder just where they were going. They'd reached the edge of the inhabited section, and Carson just kept on walking.

Finally, Carson turned and entered a room. Quickly, before the door could shut behind him, Rodney sped up and slipped in. The room was large, but cluttered with Ancient projection screens and control consoles. Rodney could hear that whispering, hissing sound again. Carson was standing over one of the consoles, and as Rodney moved a little further into the room, he could see his friend's face.

It looked like Carson was talking, mumbling to himself as he looked over the controls in front of him, but the only sound was the noises Rodney associated with the entity. He felt the hairs on the back of his neck rise. The entity was using Carson even to speak. To talk to itself as it tried to learn the controls. Rodney really wished he knew what this room did, but it was far outside the sections of the city they'd explored so far.

Finally, Carson reached out and touched a series of controls. Rodney felt and heard the whole room hum and come to life around them. As Carson continued to make adjustments, moving about the room to various panels, Rodney tried to remember everything that he touched. He couldn't read the screens, and really had no idea what the entity was doing, so this was all he could do. He'd have to get Radek and a team down here as soon as possible.

As Carson continued to work, it occurred to Rodney that he should call Sheppard and a security team. He had not grabbed his radio in his rush to follow Carson, however. Without being able to read a screen, he doubted he could get the city to connect with John's room.

Now that he was thinking about it, Rodney was surprised this section of the city even had power. In his and Radek's last round of energy saving modifications, they'd cut as much power as possible from the unused portions of the city. The only things they'd left any power to at all were vital defense systems.

Like the shield generators.

Rodney suddenly felt sick. Quickly, he mentally ran over the long route Carson had taken to get here. He tried to put it with a map of the city in his head. He figured they were in the north section of the city, probably fairly close to the edge. It was entirely possible that this room helped regulate the city's shield.

Carson finally stopped working. He turned and left the room, heading back the way they had come. Rodney followed him all the way back to the infirmary and into his office. Carson simply lay down on his cot, and was still.

Rodney turned and trotted back out of the infirmary. It was early morning now. They'd probably been down in that room for about four hours. As Rodney rushed towards the residential areas, he took stock of the situation. Carson, possessed by the entity, had done something to the city. If this entity could possess others, it would explain the multiple log in codes. But the questions that were driving him nuts remained unanswered. What was this entity? What did it want? Why?

First things first. He had to wake Radek and John. They had to check out that room.

Part 24

An hour later, John and Rodney left Radek, babbling in Czech at his research team, in the newly discovered shield regulation and control room. They weren't sure of anything yet. The shield seemed fine. Better than fine, actually. The level of power being drawn had been decreased, but somehow, the shield readings were stronger than ever. Radek and his team were still going through the lines of modified code.

So John and Rodney left them to it. They were off to find Carson. The two walked in silence for a while, before John finally spoke, "Listen, Rodney…"

Rodney held up a hand. "Unless you're apologizing, I don't want to hear it. I'm fine. I'm not staying in the infirmary any longer, and-"

"Let me finish!" John snapped. "I am actually trying to apologize, here."

"Oh," Rodney tried not to smirk.

They walked on, once again in silence. They were almost to the infirmary when Rodney spoke again. "So that was it, was it?"

"Yeah," John answered.

They entered the infirmary to find Carson scanning Teyla's leg. "It's healing well," Carson sounded exhausted. "We still have a few more weeks left, though."

Teyla nodded, saw Rodney and John, and smiled. "My leg is healing well."

"So we heard," John replied. He put a hand on Carson's shoulder. "You look beat, doc."

"Aye. I slept here last night, but I guess I didn't sleep very well."

"Yeah, me neither," Rodney replied. "I spent half the night following you around the city.

Carson looked and sounded confused. "I'm sorry?" he asked.

John patted his shoulder, "better come with us, doc. Looks like our invisible friend was busy again last night."

***

The atmosphere in the conference room was one of confused concern. Carson sat between John and Rodney. Elizabeth, Teyla, Lorne, Heightmeyer, and Ronon were also seated around the table.

"So you're saying this entity possessed Carson and used him to move around Atlantis?" Elizabeth asked.

Rodney nodded. Carson looked slightly ill. "What did I do?" he asked.

"Actually, you may have increased the efficiency of the shield itself," Rodney snorted. "Don't know why the entity would do that though. This whole thing doesn't make any sense. First it nearly corrupts the Ancient database, then it attacks and kills me, and now it's making the shield stronger?"

"Where did it come from?" Lorne asked. "Maybe if we knew that, we'd have some answers."

Radek bustled in, tablet in hand, and Dr. Miran behind him. He didn't wait for acknowledgement before he spoke. "We are still going over everything, but Dr. Miran has found something," he moved to the room's computer display and plugged his tablet in. "I asked Dr. Miran to go over the security feeds in the gate room and infirmary from over the past few weeks. Looking for strange energy readings, or anything else out of the ordinary."

"And?" Rodney prompted.

"Well, we think we can track the entity. At first, we thought it was a sensor glitch, but whenever the entity moves about it creates a static feedback in the sensors. And we have found power spikes during the times when Dr. Beckett would have been possessed and even when Rodney was attacked." Radek was rocking on his feet, clearly excited.

"That's not all," Dr. Miran added. "I think I know when it came through the gate."

Rodney turned sharply to look at his underling. "When?" he asked.

"When the rescue team brought you and the rest of Colonel Sheppard's team back from your last mission."

"M4C-628?" John asked. "The planet with the crazy homicidal natives?"

"Have we gone to any other planets lately?" Rodney snapped. His eyes suddenly hurt again.

"Alright," Elizabeth called everyone's attention. "If we can track it, maybe we can catch it. Try to communicate with it…something."

"Just don't corner it," Rodney added, rubbing his chest.

Part 25

Rodney had been summoned to the infirmary. He was rather annoyed at the summons, actually. He'd been at lunch with Radek, going over the new data from the shields. Well, Radek had been going over it, Rodney admitted to himself. He'd just been grilling him about every aspect of the data. He'd been having fun though. It kept his mind off the entity, which had not made any sort of appearance for a few days now. Almost like it knew they were looking for it.

Radek had found a series of odd lines of code in the shield programs, though, which had been a welcome distraction for Rodney. He spent lunch questioning everything Radek said, partly to put it all together mentally, since he couldn't see the screen, but a lot of the reason, he knew, was just because he wanted to annoy Radek. The Czech had said a very relieved goodbye when Rodney had left the mess.

Carson and Dr. Henning were waiting for him when he got to the infirmary. "Out of quarantine then, I take it," Rodney smirked and drawled.

Henning nodded. "Yes, and before you ask, I did spend quite a bit of time working on your eye problem. And I think I have a treatment plan."

"That's why we called, Rodney," Carson told him, smiling.

Rodney stared at them. "You have something that will work?"

Henning gestured to one of the treatment beds. Rodney only hesitated a moment before following. He sat on the bed, took off his sunglasses, and watched Carson and Henning move about the infirmary. As Carson was counting some pills, Henning came to stand in front of Rodney. He was holding something in Rodney's face.

"What's that?" Rodney asked. It was thin and round rather like a pen.

"It's a penlight. I'm just doing a quick exam," Henning told him. "That echolocation device sure is great, huh?"

Rodney didn't bother answering. Henning rubbed him the wrong way. He was too busy considering how weird it was to see what Henning was doing, even as the man shone what was probably a very bright light into his eyes. And he didn't feel or see anything.

"You're going to be on these medications until either we get results or I decide it's not working," Henning said. He finished his exam and turned as Carson joined them.

"These eye drops should go in four times a day," Carson told him as he handed Rodney a bottle. "You'll also be receiving a daily injection. We'll start that now, and you can just come visit me after lunch every day."

Rodney sighed. "Fine. What's the pills for?"

"For any pain," Henning replied as Rodney took the last bottle from Carson. "In case the treatment doesn't work." Rodney wondered just what exactly he meant by that ominous statement, but Carson spoke before he could ask.

"Rodney. This is an experimental treatment to an issue we haven't exactly seen before. The Ancient database has some information, but we had to fill in the blanks ourselves." As Carson spoke, he prepped an injector and held it up. "Ready?"

Rodney rolled his eyes, "as ever," he snarled, and Carson pressed the injector to his neck.

Part 26

Rodney woke up sweating and shaking. His eyes burned. His arms and legs burned. His head pounded in time with his rapid heartbeat. Salivating, nearly nauseous, he swallowed convulsively. What was going on? And why was he on the hard floor?

Groaning, he tried to sit up, but the world slid sideways and he felt his stomach threaten to heave. Eyes closed, he laid back and tried to focus past his body. Focus on the sound of the waves, the heat and light of the sun…

Light?

Rodney's eyes snapped open, and he instantly wished that they hadn't. Bright light flooded his eyes, smashing into his brain like a truck. He moaned and squeezed his eyes shut.

This was like the worst hangover he'd ever had. He could see, and it HURT. God, why did he hurt so bad? And where the hell was he, anyway? Cautiously he turned his head and squinted. Everything was blurry, and so very bright. Far way, he could make out the familiar shape of Atlantis' spires. The ocean lapped at the side of the city, and it sounded quite close, but he didn't dare turn his head again to see.

Focus on one question at a time, he told himself. Ho had he gotten out on one of the piers? He tried to remember what had happened. He remembered leaving the infirmary after the fourth day of injections. He went back to the labs to check how Radek was getting along with the shield. He'd talked to John in the corridor outside Ops. Was that before or after he took the pain medication for his headache? No, he'd left the labs because of the migraine, taken meds, and then went to Ops to see if there had been any sign of the entity. He'd met Teyla, Ronon, and John for dinner. He'd gone to his quarters instead of back to the labs. He remembered being exhausted.

He also distinctly remembered falling asleep in his bed. He had no recollection at all of how he'd gotten from there to here.

Why could he suddenly see? He'd gone to sleep still unable to see at all without the echolocator. Shouldn't a return to vision be gradual? Granted, he was pretty nearsighted at the moment, but he could still SEE.

He tried to move again. The burning sensation had receded, and though his arms and legs felt unnaturally heavy, he could move them. But could he sit up or stand? The nausea had gone down a little, but he still felt off. Groaning again, he rolled onto his side and slowly sat up.

The world titled again, and it felt like his skull was sliding sideways, going at a different speed than the rest of his head. Concussion? How?

"It was in you," a voice said from behind him. It sounded like Henning. Rodney tried to turn and look at him, but suddenly pain blossomed behind his eyes.

Hands clamped on either side of his head, fingers pressing on his cheeks, thumbs just behind his ears. Still behind him, Henning spoke again, "maybe it still is." He sounded thoughtful, but Rodney as more worried about how hard the hands were squeezing his head.

"I'm surprised it worked, actually." Henning continued, "I was just playing a hunch, and, after all, I don't have much experience with ghosts and spirits."

"Please," Rodney whispered. "Please let go."

"You ran last night, when you saw me watching you. Led me on a merry chase, before you dived off a balcony and drug yourself way out her."

Rodney could hear himself whimpering. He squirmed, but the hands only pressed harder.

"Everyone was worrying about how to track the entity, when they should have been wondering where it was going to roost when they couldn't see it."

"Me?" Rodney croaked, suddenly angry. "How did you figure that one out, Sherlock?" He realized that his hands had come up to grab Henning's wrists at some point. He was struggling, hard, but it wasn't him.

Henning didn't answer him. Rodney tried to stop struggling, tried to let go of Henning's wrists, to show he wasn't going to run or fight. His body didn't respond. If anything, he stared flailing even harder.

"A security team will be here shortly, and you will come with us. It's almost time for your daily medication at all." Henning sounded smug. "Now that you're trapped, maybe we can find out the whole story."

Rodney opened his mouth to plead, to beg that Henning let go of him. Instead of words, the sound that came out of Rodney's mough froze him to the bone.

Whispering, hissing. Incredibly loud. Furious.

Part 27

Everything was moving too fast for Rodney. His head hurt, spun. All he wanted to do was go back to sleep, but he couldn't. Henning had locked him in a small bare room on the outskirts of the explored section of the city. There was nothing Rodney could do but wonder what Henning had planned.

Rodney sank to the floor and stared at his hands, marveling at the fact that he could see again. He didn't realize how much he'd missed colours. From what Henning had said, Rodney suspected that the meds he'd been taking, or at least the injection, weren't really doing much to help his eyes. Though Carson never would have gone along with such an underhanded scheme, Rodney knew.

He groaned. He hated mysteries like this. Hated that Henning was right. The entity was IN him. As he'd gotten past his physical pain, he'd become more aware of the entity itself. It raged within him, unable to escape. Rodney could hear it in his head.

Footsteps outside the door brought him out of his thoughts. He could hear voices, muffled, but one of them sounded like Radek. A moment later, the door opened, and Rodney found himself squinting into the light of gun mounted torches.

"Rodney?" John's voice asked.

Afraid to speak, in case the entity spoke for him, Rodney merely nodded tiredly.

His friends, his team, entered the room. Radek was there, lifesigns detector in hand. Carson followed, a medical pack on his shoulders. Ronon and Lorne stayed by the door, quiet, protective shadows.

It was John and Carson who approached him. They looked relieved. Carson knelt in front of him and pulled his handheld medical scanner from his bag. Quickly scanning Rodney, Carson's expression changed from relief to surprise. "Och, what happened to you, Rodney?" he asked mostly to himself.

John knelt beside the doctor. "What is it?"

"We need to get him to the infirmary," Carson answered. "He has a concussion, among other things."

John nodded and turned to Rodney. "Can you stand, buddy?"

Rodney shrugged. He didn't want to stand. He wanted to sleep.

Carson touched his arm, making him jump. The world had greyed out for a moment, because John no longer knelt in front of him. "Stay with us, Rodney," Carson ordered. "Come on, let's get you out of here."

John was behind him, helping him stand. The room didn't tilt and slide sideways, which Rodney was grateful for. As they moved him, his brain cleared a little. How long had he been gone from the main area? Where was Henning? He had to tell his friends what was going on, that he could see. That the entity was somehow trapped inside him, and that Henning was a dangerous man.

As they started the slow walk home, Rodney knew he was drifting. Radek came up to walk beside them. "When you did not go to breakfast this morning, or come to the briefing or the labs, we grew concerned," he told Rodney. "Carson caught Henning in the infirmary about half an hour ago. Trying to steal your injection. He has been detained."

Questions welled up in Rodney's head, but he was still aware of the entity hovering inside him. He kept his mouth shut. He decided to just let Radek fill him in on what was going on."

"He told us of the entity. That it is inside of you." Radek continued. "Do not worry, Rodney. We will get it out."

"That's enough for now, my friend," Carson interrupted Radek. "After I've had a chance to patch him up, you and Sheppard can tell him your plan."

Part 28

Back in the main part of the city, it was decided that Rodney should be placed in one of the infirmary's isolation rooms. After all, he did have the entity inside him. As much as Rodney hated to admit it, they were right. He still hadn't told anyone that he could see again, and he wasn't sure if they'd noticed yet. Once in the infirmary, Carson began a much more thorough medical exam.

Half an hour later, Rodney had been poked, prodded, scanned, and questioned. He'd had blood drawn, an eye scan and a physical eye exam, and his blood pressure, temperature, and heart and lung sounds had all been checked. Carson had even ordered some food for Rodney, since he hadn't eaten anything since the day before.

By the time everyone else came back, Rodney had finished eating. He felt much better, not even realizing amidst all the other confusion and excitement that he'd been pretty close to a hypoglycemic reaction. He'd been able to answer all of Carson's questions without the entity taking over his voice. In fact, it had quieted down considerably since he and Carson had gotten to the isolation room.

"How is he, doc?" John asked as he entered the room. Teyla, Radek, Elizabeth, and Ronon all followed him inside.

"He has a concussion," Carson answered, pointing it out on the scanner display. It was the first time Rodney had thought to look at it. The display caught him by surprise, not because of the information currently being displayed, but because he could see it. He stared at it, drinking in the colours, the patterns, as Carson continued. "I'm waiting on bloodwork results, but other than the concussion he's doing well. He'll be sore and bruised for a while though. There's something else, too," Carson added. He was smiling now, nearly rocking back and forth on his feet. "Don't ask me what's changed or why it's happening all of a sudden, because I don't know yet." He pressed the scanner display screen and it changed form a picture of Rodney's brain to the scan of his eyes.

Everyone unconsciously crowded a little closer to the screen, trying to see. They mostly looked expectant and confused. "Uh, Carson, care to explain what we are looking at?" Radek asked.

Carson smiled, "I just took this scan about twenty minutes ago. Between this and what Rodney has told me… he can see again."

Five pairs of eyes widened and turned to stare at Rodney. Even given the circumstances, Rodney couldn't help but smile. "You…" Radek moved towards him. Rodney nodded. "Is back to normal, or…?"

"I'm pretty shortsighted at the minute," Rodney answered. He suddenly felt the entity curl inside him, brushing his mind. "We can talk about it later. This thing is still in me, remember," he reminded everyone. He wasn't sure what they were going to do.

John gave him one last smile, then got back to the matter at hand. "We've gotten some more information out of Henning and Halversten. She's not in on his plot, actually, but she had her suspicions about him," he shrugged and continued. "Apparently, Henning used to be involved with the NID back on Earth. Don't know what exactly he did, but… anyway. He's happy to tell us all about what he was doing here." John's expression was thunderous. "He had a theory, he said. Figured out that the entity possesses people when they're asleep. Can only move in and out of their minds then."

The answer bloomed in Rodney's mind. "Of course!" he exclaimed. "The injections! He must have been switching them out, or made sure to add something to them…" at the confused expressions around them, he continued. "I've been feeling very off, ever since the treatment was started. I haven't been sleeping right, getting migraines, well, more so than usual…" he trailed off and stared around. "Look, he wanted me to stay awake long enough that I just about passed out, so the entity would happily try to use me. Because of that, I'm awake now. The entity is trapped."

"Ok, so what do we do? Can we talk to it?" Elizabeth was talking, but an odd buzzing noise was drowning everything out.

Their voices were muted as Rodney shook his head, trying to pop his ears. It felt like cotton balls had been stuffed in them. He tried to answer Elizabeth's questions, but the entity was back. He could feel it curling around his mind, trying to take over. Everyone seemed to be very far away. They were shouting, he thought. Shouting at him? Rodney didn't know what he looked like at the moment, but it must have been bad. All his focus was inwards. He could hear the entity, hissing, whispering, but he didn't know if it was all in his head or if the entity had taken control of his mouth again.

Suddenly he felt the gentle undulation and curl of the entity in his mind turn sharp, whipping around him and squeezing. He gasped, fought, knew he was flailing, knew his friends were trying to help, but there was nothing they could do. His world was fading from him, his new found vision down to a mere pinprick of light. He could feel himself getting weaker, fading away, could feel the triumph of the entity as it continued to squeeze down on his mind. Finally, the fight went out of Rodney, and his body stilled. His friends all shared a horrified moment, and when they turned back to Rodney, he was watching them, a feral, predatory glint in his still milky eyes.

Part 29

Suddenly he felt the gentle undulation and curl of the entity in his mind turn sharp, whipping around him and squeezing. He gasped, fought, knew he was flailing, knew his friends were trying to help, but there was nothing they could do. His world was fading from him, his new found vision down to a mere pinprick of light. He could feel himself getting weaker, fading away, could feel the triumph of the entity as it continued to squeeze down on his mind. Finally, the fight went out of Rodney, and his body stilled. His friends all shared a horrified moment, and when they turned back to Rodney, he was watching them, a feral, predatory glint in his still milky eyes.

oOo

The first thing Rodney felt was the head ache. Well, head ache wasn't the right word for it. It felt as though his brain was being torn apart, as though his scull was about to explode and his eyes were about to pop from the pressure. His entire head pounded with the beat of his heart. Colour patters burst behind his closed eyelids, his ears felt like they must be bleeding. If he could have, he'd have sobbed and cried from the pain.

The second thing Rodney felt was his inability to move. His arms, his neck, his fingers, legs, even his toes refused all commands to *move.* He felt panic rise in his chest and wished it wouldn't make his heart speed up like it did. The pounding in his head was worse because of it.

The third thing Rodney felt was the cold. He felt like he'd been thrust inside a freezer, or maybe he was just back in Antarctica. Either way, his bones ached from it, and he was suddenly glad he couldn't move, because surely his fingers were already frozen solid and at risk of shattering? Every breath was like having icicles jammed into his lungs. His whole chest *burned* from the frigid air.

The fourth thing Rodney felt was his lips move. His vocal cords vibrate as his mouth formed words. Lips and tongue speaking of its own volition. He was confused for a moment, unable to understand what he was saying.

The fifth thing Rodney felt explained everything. The entity had coiled itself around his mind, around his consciousness. He felt so tightly wrapped that he wondered if maybe the entity was all that was holding his head together. As if when it uncoiled, his brain would truly collapse and melt out his ears. The entity was controlling him. Completely and utterly. It allowed for no movement, no shouting or crying, begging or demanding.

It had total control now, and Rodney could feel the creature's smug triumph.

Dimly, he could hear his friends. They were speaking, and Rodney wondered how long he'd been unconscious. Their voices, like his own possessed one, were far away, as though they were in another room. He could only catch bits and pieces of the conversation.

"…want to be here…"

"…do you want?"

"…nothing…everything…"

"…talk to us now?"

"It seems we… impasse…"

Rodney was having a hard time focusing past the various pains he was feeling. He knew this discussion was important. It may decide not only his fate but that of all his friends. He tried to focus, wishing he could take a deep breath or three, to gasp through the pain, but he couldn't.

"…take you back?"

"Aye, you cannot… Rodney… negotiate…"

"I care little…pathetic existence. The humans…my planet... trapped. …came."

"I'm not sure I understand. You…"

"…explain nothing to you… If it weren't for your… Ancients…"

"Preserve the city? Then why…"

Rodney figured he was fading in and out, missing whole chunks of dialogue, not just snippets.

"…invaders…"

"But… descended from the Ancients… Earth…"

"…Or'i…"

"Elizabeth… have to… back to the planet."

"…dangerous, John."

"You have no choice…"

"…hardly think… position to make demands."

"…I can sink the city…you unprotected. I…call the Wraith…" Rodney heard a sinister laugh come out of his throat.

"…trapped here…"

"…until the next time…found…"

"Can he do that?"

"Well… Ano."

"…Rodney?"

"…is here."

"…speak to him…"

"…go back…"

"…only your word to go on?"

"…your choice. I do not care…"

The voices suddenly faded, stopped all together. Alone in his own mind, Rodney felt his fear. Felt the creature's amusement, desire, and coldness. It did not care what happened to them. It had goals, things it set out to do. Rodney's body was nothing but a tool for it. He felt the creature's focus turn inward, on him.

 _You._

Rodney flinched. Not outwardly, of course, but the entity saw it. _What?_

 _You and yours have been most helpful._ The creature sounded pensive.

Rodney was confused. _You took us over, it's not like we let you in._

It laughed. _Didn't you?_ At Rodney's silence, it continued. _You may not have understood what happened, but no matter. What's done is done. I suppose, in a small way, I owed your kind. The debt is paid._

 _What are you talking about?_ When confused, Rodney got angry. Some called it a character fault, though Rodney had never given it much thought. _You came here, possessed us, have been wreaking havoc all over the city-_ The creature's focus changed, just for a moment, but it gave Rodney the distinct impression that it couldn't have cared less about what he was saying. He stopped talking.

 _I have been in containment for thousands of years, human. Placed there by unnamed enemies. I have to explain nothing to you. The debt has been paid. I will return to my planet, one way or another. Better you and yours do not stand in my way._

Sudden relief flooded Rodney. It was like a sodden, electrified blanket had been ripped off him. The lack of pain was nearly pain in and of itself for a few moments. He gasped, cried out, sobbed, shook and tried to curl in on himself. It was only then that he found his wrists and ankles in restraints. Light flooded his eyes, and he felt tears roll down his temples and into his hair. His skin felt like it was burning after the coldness of the entity.

"Rodney!" Carson was at his side again. His hands were on Rodney's chest and shoulders, soothing, trying to calm him down. A hand took one of his bound ones, and Rodney turned to see John at his other side. He clutched at John's hand, riding out the abrupt return to physical normalcy.

Once he thought himself capable of breathing and speaking, he met John's eyes. "We have to go back."

John nodded grimly. "I know. I think I have a plan."

Part 30

They were in the briefing room. John and Radek had a plan, but it hadn't made a whole lot of sense to Rodney. Things were stalled when the others realized that Rodney had not been privy to the whole conversation they'd had with the entity. Radek was doing his best to fill Rodney in as they went along, but it wasn't working

"I don't need a play by play right now. Cole's Notes is fine," Rodney eventually snapped.

Radek stared at him for a minute, then nodded. "Yes, of course. The creature, it called itself a Halfling. Of course, I was not sure what this meant, but-"

"I looked it up in the database," John cut in. "While Carson was releasing you. The Ancients were doing an experiment."

"Ano," Radek stopped him from continuing, "let me finish. Remember the Ancient Lab your team found, the offworld one where Carson was sucked into the Wraith hell dimension?"

He saw Carson shift uncomfortably in his seat, and Rodney shivered, remembering Carson's screams. They'd almost lost him, almost had a Wraith possess his body that time. "Of course I do."

"I believe these two things are related." Radek told him. Rodney's eyes widened. "No, it is not a Wraith. Not entirely, anyway. I believe the Ancients also spent some time on the possibility of returning Wraith to their unevolved selves, like we did. When this did not work, they were stuck with a Halfling."

Rodney raised an eyebrow. "How much of this is in the database?"

"Not much," Radek sighed. "The Ancients never were very good at putting their failures down for history."

"The creature, Halfling, whatever. Said it had been in containment." Rodney told them. Radek was about to answer when Rodney had a thought. He snapped his fingers. "So the Ancients find themselves with a Halfling, can't get rid of it, and so they take it to an uninhabited planet and build an interdimensional containment field."

"Where it's been for over ten thousand years," John finished. "If it wasn't pissed before, it certainly would be now."

"So why strengthen the shields?" Elizabeth, who had been quietly listening, asked. "Why streamline our power consumption?"

"We let it out," Rodney impatiently replied. "It told me it had repaid a debt."

"So where do the natives fit into all this?" Ronon asked.

"Well, if they came there after the containment chamber did, who knows what kind of superstition may have grown up around it. If it takes an ATA gene to open, they obviously never had any experiences with it. Maybe the Ancients left them a warning, something a primitive mind would understand, like, 'here there be demons.'" Rodney continued. "Then we come along, and Colonel 'I Have To Touch Everything' Sheppard releases it. So the natives think we're all demons or something. I don't know, I feel like we're making this up as we go." He looked around the table. "The point is, the Halfling wants to go back to the planet. I don't want this thing loose around the galaxy. For all we know, it could find its way to the interdimensional lab and open up the gates of the Wraith hell and bring all of them back here. It needs to go back in containment, and we either have to get by the natives to do it or somehow convince them of our intent. I don't know about the rest of you, but I don't want to experience their hospitality again."

"So what's your plan, John?" Elizabeth turned to him.

John leaned back in his hair and ran a hand through his hair. "Take a Jumper for cover, mine and Lorne's teams and a team of Marines, and Zelenka. We'll keep one team at the Gate to make sure the natives don't try to cut us off. The rest of us will get to the device. While Lorne's team covers us, Zelenka figures out how to get the thing back in the box."

"And where am I during all this?" Rodney asked suspiciously.

John turned to him, "you're waiting on this side of the Gate with Beckett and another team of marines. It doesn't want to go back in its cage. We didn't get any useful readings or video of the object last time, so we're going to have to figure out everything on site. I don't want the Halfling there until we know what we're doing and we're ready to put it back."

Rodney knew John was right. The entity could take him over in the blink of an eye, so it wouldn't do to have to think about trying to keep it busy on the planet while Radek got the containment working. "So we just stand around and wait for a call."

"Then you're escorted through the gate by the marines and Beckett. I want the doc there in case there's some side effects when we get the Halfling out of you."

"Aye, especially if it tries to fight us," Carson agreed. "Will there be enough room in the Jumper for supplies?"

John nodded, "there will be. Get a list together and we'll start loading up." He turned expectantly to Elizabeth.

"Be careful," was all she had to say.

oOo

Rodney listened over the radio as John and the others went through the gate. He was in the gear-up room with Carson and their team of marines. John hadn't even wanted Rodney to see them off, in case the Halfling got any ideas. He knew John was right, that this was the proper course of action, but he still hated it. Hated being the liability. Hated that he had to stand by while Radek solved *his* problem.

If there was one thing that Rodney had learned from this whole fiasco, it was that Radek was just as capable and smart as he was. Not that he would ever admit that out loud. Since first losing his sight, Radek had been forced to take over almost all of his duties. He'd been the one figuring out new pieces of technology. He'd been the one running all over the city to repair things. He was more than just capable, and he knew that Rodney had come to the same conclusion. While Rodney was sure he'd still refer to Radek as the 'B' Team sometimes, he had a new appreciation for his second.

As he shrugged on his tac vest, a hand pressed on his shoulder. He turned to find Carson behind him. "Here," the doctor said, holding out a small case.

"What?" Rodney asked. He took the case and opened it. A pair of glasses were inside.

"You're not back to full vision," Carson explained. "I took the specifications off your latest scan and pulled these from storage. They're not quite the right prescription, but they'll do until we know if you'll need permanent ones."

Rodney stared at the glasses for a moment. Thin dark rims, not very heavy at all. He nodded and slipped them on. "How do they sit?"

Carson smiled. "They look good," he told him, taking the case back and setting it on a bench. "How's your vision?"

"Still a little fuzzy, but much better." Rodney smiled at his friend. He was just happy to have his sight back at all. He'd never really appreciated it before it was gone.

As they waited for Sheppard to call them through the gate, Rodney couldn't help but wonder if the entity knew what they were up to. It had been quiet all through his physical exam, and through the briefing. Was it sleeping? Did it even need rest? He hoped that John had thought to keep him in the dark about some of the plan, just in case. Rodney scoffed quietly to himself. Of course he had. John played dumb sometimes, but Rodney knew that the colonel really was quite intelligent.

A voice crackled over his headset. "Beckett, McKay, we're set."

"On our way, Colonel," Carson replied.

Rodney felt the Halfling stir as they entered the gateroom. He hesitated, shook his head, and lifted his chin defiantly at Carson's questioning look. After a quick glance up at where Elizabeth stood on the upper deck, he took a deep breath and followed two of their marine escort through the stargate.

oOo

Almost immediately on the other side, before Rodney even had a chance to get his bearings and look around, he felt the Halfling wrap around his consciousness. He gasped and fell to his knees as the creature squeezed down. "Dr. McKay," he heard one of the marines call his name.

"No," Rodney hissed to himself. His hands clenched into fists as he fought with the entity. It wasn't trying to completely take him over, he realized. Suddenly, he was exhausted.

"Rodney?" Carson was at his side, hand on his shoulder.

"Tired," Rodney mumbled. "It wants me to go to sleep."

"I know. Henning told me that he thinks the Halfling can only enter and leave a host when they are asleep." Rodney felt the sudden sting in the side of his neck. Carson had given him an injection. His heart was suddenly pounding in his chest, and Rodney gasped and turned to Carson, eyes wide. His friend smiled gently. "Adrenaline," Carson answered his unspoken question. "We have to keep you awake."

Rodney heard the Halfling snarl and the pressure on his mind suddenly increased. Rodney's hand shot up, snatching at Carson's throat. The doctor fell back as one of the marines lurched in to restrain Rodney. He shared another wide-eyed look with Carson. "Sorry," Rodney managed.

Carson nodded. "I know. Let's get you to the others."

The marine, Billings, Rodney thought his name was, kept a hand on Rodney's arm as he got to his feet. As they walked along, Rodney realized that the adrenaline was helping not only keep the Halfling from putting him to sleep, but it was also keeping it from exerting full control over him. As much as he hated to think about it, he probably had Henning to thank for this.

"Three o'clock," one of the marines spoke in a low voice. "We're being watched."

Rodney turned and could just make out a small group of natives in the trees. He tensed, ready to run. Seeing them again brought back a flood of memories. He tried to block them out, to not think about the fire-lit cave, the chanting, screaming, and pain, but it was hard. The natives didn't come any closer, though. They seemed to just be watching them, keeping pace with the group as they moved deeper into the forest, towards Sheppard and Lorne's team. Maybe they realized what Rodney and the others had planned, or maybe they were just biding their time, waiting for an opportunity to strike. Rodney shivered, but kept moving.

It wasn't a long walk, at least, and Rodney was thankful for that. He could feel his heart approaching a more normal tempo by the time Major Lorne came into view. He nodded at them, then turned his focus to watch their backs as Rodney's group passed by. Twenty steps later, Rodney could see John, standing next to the obelisk. Radek wasn't visible from where Rodney was, but he could hear him talking to himself in Czech.

As they stopped beside John, he turned to Rodney. "How're you feeling?" he asked.

Rodney shrugged, "terrible. The adrenaline shot worked though. Nice touch."

John smiled. "I couldn't tell you the whole plan, now could I? How's it coming, Radek?" he called over his shoulder.

"I believe I have it." Radek stood up, tablet and scanner in hand. "Rodney, come over here, please."

Rodney started to move, but the Halfling was back, suddenly pressing down with full force. Rodney crumpled, gasping for air. He felt hands on him, but he was flailing, only half in control. His fist connected with someone, and he heard a grunt and a curse. Sounds were suddenly both distant and far too close. Everyone's voices were echoing, ping ponging through his brain, and he couldn't make them out. There was another press and sting on his neck, but this time, his heart didn't start pounding. This wasn't another adrenaline shot. Hands finally got hold of his wrists, and others grabbed the back of his tac vest. The Halfling shrieked in frustration, and Rodney realized that his body had gone limp and he was being drug across the ground. Someone rolled him over, and his view of the forest tilted crazily for a moment, before settling onto Radek's face above him.

"Ano, that's good," the scientist's voice rang in his hears. "Back away, please!"

The hands released him, and Radek stepped back. Rodney followed him with his eyes, saw him tapping commands into his tablet. There was a hum beside him, and he rolled his eyes to peer to his left. He was up against the obelisk. The hum was coming from inside it. It was powering up.

 _I'll take you with me,_ the Halfling snarled. Rodney gasped, tried to cry out as icy claws jabbed into his mind, clutching at his consciousness. He could feel it, feel the Halfling loosing control, being bodily ripped from him. Suddenly able to draw a full breath, Rodney screamed. His mind felt like it was being torn apart. The Halfling was being sucked into the obelisk, and Rodney knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that it could make good on its threat to take him with it into the containment field. The pain was white hot now, and Rodney was dimly aware that he was screaming as fast as he could draw breath. He mentally fought against the Halfling, trying to pry himself from its grasp. It was so strong, but Rodney realized that it was loosing the fight. The electronic hum increased, and the Halfling let out one final shriek of rage. Then, it was gone, and Rodney's mind was quiet.

He sucked in a shuddering breath and was able to see again. Carson was above him, an empty syringe in his hand. His friend gave him a small, reassuring smile just before darkness covered Rodney in painless oblivion.

oOo

Rodney next woke to whistling and the sound of gunfire. He groaned and tried to sit up, only to find that he was strapped down. He was on a stretcher, he realized, and Carson and Radek were carrying him. Surrounded by Sheppard and Lorne's teams, they hurried through the forest, presumably towards the gate. Rodney tried to hold still, but the constant motion and bumping movement was making his stomach curl. He began reciting pi to himself, then moved on to listing the prime numbers, anything to focus his mind somewhere besides the nausea.

"Dial the gate!" he heard John shout over the noise. Something whistled past Rodney's ear, and he heard Radek grunt. The stretcher tilted for one terrifying moment before Radek heaved it level again and they continued on.

He heard the kawoosh of the gate opening, and then they were through. He felt the stretcher lower to the floor, but his head was dropped the last couple inches when Radek let go. Rodney moaned, and if he'd had the energy he would have yelled at the Czech, but then he realized that Radek had fallen to the ground, and Carson was at his side. Rodney could just tilt his head enough to see what looked like an arrow protruding from Radek's side.

He heard the rest of their teams coming through the gate, and then the wormhole deactivated. Now that he wasn't moving so much, the nausea had passed. Rodney breathed a sigh of relief. He was home.

"I want Sheppard, Billingson, Ronon, and Murphy into the infirmary immediately," Rodney's consciousness was going again, but he dimly heard Carson snapping out orders. "You two, get Rodney, please. I need a stretcher for Radek."

oOo

When Rodney next woke, he was in the infirmary. Looking around, he saw John and Ronon in chairs next to his bed. Ronon appeared to be asleep. There was a bandage on his forehead. John's head was turned away from him, but Rodney must have shifted, because the colonel turned back to look at him.

"Hey," John smiled. "How you feeling, buddy?"

Rodney's mouth felt like sandpaper. He mumbled, coughed, and happily accepted the cup of water John handed to him. "Surprisingly, I feel pretty good," Rodney told him after he'd taken a drink. "How's Radek?"

John sighed, "just out of surgery. He took an arrow as we were pulling out. Carson had to take out his kidney."

Rodney's eyes widened. "He's going to be ok though, right?"

"Aye, lad. Radek's going to be fine," Rodney turned to look at Carson as he joined them. The doctor smiled at him, happy to deliver some good news. "Everyone's going to be fine, actually."

Rodney relaxed. He hadn't realized how much he'd tensed up when John had told him about Radek. Turning back to John, he noticed that Ronon was awake now. Ronon grinned at him, "you did good, McKay."

Rodney nodded, "I guess I did, didn't I? There was a moment back there when I thought the Halfling was gonna drag me into the containment field with him."

"Yeah, we know," John grimaced. "You should have heard all the stuff coming out of your mouth, McKay. Both of you were talking, screaming. It got pretty dicey for a minute before Carson was able to get in there and give you another shot of adrenaline."

That reminded Rodney, and he turned back to Carson. "What's gonna happen to Henning?"

Carson made a face. "Henning and Halversten are both going back to Earth, where Henning will probably go straight off to a cell."

Rodney nodded, satisfied with that for now. A wave of exhaustion hit him, and he settled back into the bed, yawning. John chucked and patted his arm. Standing up, he gave Rodney one final grin, then headed for the door, Ronon at his heels.

"Oh," Carson drew his attention. "I took another scan of your eyes while you were out. Now that the Halfling's gone, the scanners are working perfectly again. I think it was messing with them a little, like it did with the sensors. Anyway, I'm not seeing any more improvement to your eyes, so I went ahead and ordered some glasses for you. They should be here next time Earth sends supplies."

Rodney waved him off. "I'm just happy I can see again. Glasses aren't going to be that big a deal."

Carson nodded. "Get some rest, Rodney. I'll order you some dinner in a couple hours."

Rodney watched as Carson turned and walked away before he snuggled back into the bed and closed his eyes. Finally, life could get back to normal.


End file.
